Vacancies

PhD position, appointment for 4 years

Description of the position

Systems biology is rapidly developing as the scientific approach to understand complex biological systems consisting of a large number of components and their interactions. In this project, we aim to build top-down systems biology models by combining explorative data analysis and prior information of the biological system.

The biological system we will examine is the polyphenol degradation pathway. Polyphenols are plant secondary metabolites, ubiquitous in fruits, vegetables, tea and wine that have a role in the prevention of e.g. cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, etc. Their bioavailability, however, depends strongly on the variety of gut bacteria that break down the large aromatic molecules into smaller and simpler phenolics that are absorbed into the human body. Some of these phenolics are measured in blood and urine but it is not yet possible to deduct which degradation pathways were used. The project focuses on developing a 'grey' model methodology that combines data driven models and relevant prior information to build systems biology models. Grey models are a good compromise as they give a good fit to the data and can be interpreted well. The main research questions are how to incorporate various types of prior knowledge in these models and how to validate the grey models. The grey model tools will then be used to build a top-down systems biology model of the polyphenol degradation pathways.

In a joint effort with the project 'Encoding a priori information' the combined analysis should provide the mainly used degradation pathways for a specific individual after polyphenol intake, giving the possibility of phenotyping individuals.

The project is funded by the Netherlands Metabolomics Centre (NMC).

Requirements

  • MSc in biotatistics, chemometrics, or systems biology.
  • Strong affinity for knowledge base development and data analysis.
  • Ambition to perform pioneering research in a developing field of science.
  • Good communicative skills and a multidisciplinary mindset.

For more detailed information regarding these positions you are invited to contact: Dr. Johan Westerhuis, phone +31 20-5256546, e-mail