PhD position: Development of digital ELISA for respiratory tract infecti...

1 of 5

http://www.lifescience.net/jobs/2492/phd-position-development-of-digita...

HOME

PUBLICATIONS

NETWORK

EVENTS

PROTOCOLS

MORE...

NEWS & VIEWS

JOBS

JOURNAL CONTENT

Rainear

Search

Advertisement

Home

Jobs

PhD position: Development of digital ELISA for respiratory tract in...

PhD position: Development of digital ELISA for

respiratory tract infection causative pathogens

Overview
All jobs

Talent pool
My jobs

PhD student | Posted on Jul 13, 2016

+ Add new job

+ Quick submission
Disciplines

Advertisement

Recommendations: n/a

Please apply following the instructions below.

Application deadline is Aug 15, 2016.

Edit rights

Employer

Other

Division of Mechatronics, Biostatistics and Sensors (MeBioS), University of Leuven, Leuven,

Belgium

Job description

The MeBioS division of the Biosystems Department at KU Leuven investigates the

interaction between biological systems and physical processes. The focus of the
fundamental research in MeBioS is on the supradisciplinary field of bionanotechnology, i.e.
the technology of biological systems at the nanometer scale. The MeBioS-Biosensor group
within the division was founded in 2005 and is headed by prof. Jeroen Lammertyn. The
group currently counts 6 postdocs and 18 PhD students. Its fundamental research activities
focus on the development of novel bio-molecular detection concepts and miniaturized
analysis systems. The applications span a broad range of sectors including food (e.g.
pathogen detection and allergenicity screening) and medical diagnostics (e.g. cancer,
diabetes, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative diseases). The MeBioS-Biosensor
group closely follows the emerging field of biosensing and is active in the following domains
(1) Bio-assay development (e.g. aptamers, biofunctionalized nanomaterials), (2) Optical
sensors (e.g. fiber optic SPR sensors) and (3) Microfluidics (e.g. lab-on-a-chip technology).

Lieselot
Vantornhout

Request edit rights

Content is linked to
Division of Mechatronics,
Biostatistics and Sensors
(MeBioS)

Project

Infectious diseases are a major burden to public health and the global economy, not in the
least due to antimicrobial resistance. Rapid point of care (POC) in vitro diagnostics (IVD) are
key tools in the effective clinical management of patients with infectious diseases. Yet there
is still a large unmet clinical need for more rapid POC IVDs generating more clinically
relevant, actionable information. Effectively addressing this need requires a change in the
current approach in training researchers on IVDs, generating a new 'breed' of IVD
ABOUT LSN
JOB POSTING

TERMS OF USE

PRIVACY POLICY

EVENT POSTING

CONTACT US

PUBLISHING ARTICLES

FEEDBACK

ADVERTISING

HELP

Follow us

CONSULTING
Except where otherwise noted,
content on this site is licensed under the
CC Attribution - ShareAlike 3.0 License.
2016 Life Science Network gGmbH.
All rights reserved. Impressum

8/11/2016 4:36 PM

PhD position: Development of digital ELISA for respiratory tract infecti...

2 of 5

http://www.lifescience.net/jobs/2492/phd-position-development-of-digita...

researchers capable of closing the gap between the clinical and technological perspective.

EU H2020 project "New diagnostics for infectious diseases (ND4ID)" takes up this challenge
by offering 15 early stage researchers (ESRs) a world-class training programme where they
will be exposed to disciplines spanning clinical, technological and market-oriented
viewpoints, from both the academic and non-academic sector. As such, ND4ID will deliver
ESRs that will be in high demand serving as an example for other academic and
non-academic actors active in training IVD researchers and further strengthening Europe's
position in the internally competitive arena of IVD technology.

For KU Leuven, as one of the partners in this EU project, we are looking for a PhD student
who will be working on the topic of community acquired respiratory tract infections (RTI) and
development of ultrasensitive bioassays for detecting RTI-related viruses and bacteria. The
greatest clinical need for the physician in RTI is to be able to rapidly distinguish patients
presenting with viral RTI from those with bacterial RTI. Although the majority of community
acquired RTI is of viral origin (estimated at 70%), physicians currently empirically prescribe
antibiotics leading to their vast over-prescription. Viruses, as opposed to bacteria, not always
have dsDNA, making the development of a nucleic acid based assay challenging, and
making it too expensive for systematic use in primary care settings. Proteins provide an
excellent alternative target, attainable by antibody-based tests. Those tests do not require
target amplification, making them inherently fast, another important criterion for primary care
settings. In addition, multiplexed antibody-based tests allow the inclusion of biomarkers for
infection aiding to differentiate colonization from infection.
ESR hired on this project will address these clinical needs and technological challenges by
working on the development of digital ELISA platform with a 4-5 magnitude order increase in
sensitivity and multiplexing compared to today's POC IVD alternatives. More specifically, the
ESR will work on:
Developing singleplex digital ELISA for detection of Influenza A nucleoprotein using an
in-house developed electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) digital microfluidics (DMF) chip

Developing 4-pathogen digital ELISA on EWOD DMF platform for detection of Respiratory
Syncytial virus (RSV) next to the Influenza virus together with 2 bacteria species,
Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae
Microfabrication protocols for high-throughput production of OSTE-based low-cost
disposable microfluidic chips in collaboration with another project partner (KTH,
Sweden)Integration of digital assays with such newly developed platform
Profile

A PhD candidate should fulfill the following requirements:

Candidates must be, at the time of recruitment, in the first four years (full-time equivalent
research experience) of their research careers and have not been awarded a doctoral
degreeMobility rule: at the time of recruitment, researchers must not have resided or carried
out their main activity (work, studies, etc) in Belgium for more than 12 months in the 3 years
immediately prior to the reference dateCandidate must have a Master degree cum laude (>
70%) in Bioscience Engineering, Biomedical Sciences, Biosciences or equivalentPrevious
experience in development of antibody-based bioassays, ELISA work and/or microfabrication
technologies will be considered as a strong assetCandidates are highly motivated to do
research in dynamic environment and as part of this unique EU training programCandidates
are communicative, creative, eager to learn and able to work independently as well as part of
the teamStrong and proven knowledge of the English language is a mustWillingness to
travelCandidates must be available for starting from September 1, 2016
Offer

A PhD candidate will be offered an unique opportunity to pursue the research in extremely
dynamic and international MeBioS-Biosensor group at European renowned KU Leuven

8/11/2016 4:36 PM

PhD position: Development of digital ELISA for respiratory tract infecti...

3 of 5

http://www.lifescience.net/jobs/2492/phd-position-development-of-digita...

university as well as to become part of the world-class European training program on new
diagnostics for infectious diseases. A PhD candidate will be enrolled in local training of the
Arenberg Doctoral School at KU Leuven University as well as network-wide training within
this European project through summer schools, workshops, conferences and secondments.
Majority of his/her PhD research will be performed in the MeBioS-Biosensor group, KU
Leuven, Willem de Croylaan 42, Heverlee (Leuven), supervised by prof. Jeroen Lammertyn.
As part of the project training program and PhD, ESR will spend few months at the CSIC
(Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Scientificas, Barcelona, Spain with prof. Anderu
Llobera) and at KTH (Kungliga Tekniska Hgskolan, Stockholm, Sweden with prof. Wouter
van der Wijngaart).
The offered fellowship will cover tuition fees, monthly salary, mobility, travel and career
development allowances in line with the H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015.
The applicants will go through the following selection procedure:

Initial screening based on CV and motivation letterInterview(s) with selection

committeeApproval by the ND4ID project Supervisory Board

Selections will be made regardless of gender, nationality, religion, ethnicity and cultural
background, but aiming for a good balance among the group.

Further details

Possible start of employment: Monday, 03 October 2016.

Contract: full-time, temporary

How to apply

For more information please contact Prof. dr. ir. Jeroen Lammertyn, tel.: +32 16 32 14 59,
mail: jeroen.lammertyn@kuleuven.be or Dr. Dragana Spasic, tel.: +32 16 37 71 18, mail:
dragana.spasic@kuleuven.be.
You can apply for this job no later than August 15, 2016 via the online application tool.
Application webpage: https://icts.kuleuven.be/apps/jobsite/vacatures
/53804316?utm_medium=jobsites&utm_source=Lifescience

Application deadline: Monday, 15 August 2016 (in 4 days, 15 hours).

If you liked this job, make sure you follow University of Leuven.
For more jobs, follow the entire Network.
Source:
https://icts.kuleuven.be/apps/jobsite/vacatures/53804316

Contact details

Webpage: http://www.biw.kuleuven.be/biosyst/mebios/biosensors-group

8/11/2016 4:36 PM

PhD position: Development of digital ELISA for respiratory tract infecti...

4 of 5

Share, email or print

http://www.lifescience.net/jobs/2492/phd-position-development-of-digita...

No. of views: 103

Recomendations: n/a

n/a positive of 0 vote(s)

Would you recommend this?

Your comment on job:

Comments:

There are no comments yet.

Advertisement

8/11/2016 4:36 PM

PhD position: Development of digital ELISA for respiratory tract infecti...

5 of 5

http://www.lifescience.net/jobs/2492/phd-position-development-of-digita...

8/11/2016 4:36 PM