PhD on Bioengineering immune shielded living heart valves

Eindhoven University of Technology is an internationally top-ranking university in the Netherlands that combines scientific curiosity with a hands-on attitude. Our spirit of collaboration translates into an open culture and a top-five position in collaborating with advanced industries. Fundamental knowledge enables us to design solutions for the highly complex problems of today and tomorrow.

The Department of Biomedical Engineering offers top-level education and research in one of the most relevant and exciting scientific disciplines of the 21st century: engineering health. In combining engineering and life sciences, through challenge-based learning and a multidisciplinary approach in collaboration with hospitals, industry and others, the department addresses the great challenges of the future, striving to improve healthcare and society as a whole.

Introduction

• Are you fascinated by the potential of using gene therapy and bioengineering to provide immune shielding to living heart valves?
• Are you intrigued by understanding the processes of keeping heart valves alive outside of the body?
• Are you eager to contribute to better and sustainable healthcare at the interface of engineering and biology?
• Are you passionate about inspiring and mentoring students and working in a high-end collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment?
• Are you our next PhD candidate in bioengineering immune shielded living heart valves?

The Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is seeking a highly-talented, ambitious and passionate PhD candidate to investigate and further develop our model of bioengineering immune shielded living heart valves. We aim to develop a way to keep heart valves alive outside of the human body and further understand how we can shield living heart valves from immune-mediated degeneration. As the successful candidate, your research with us will contribute to broader efforts to protect living cardiac tissues from immune rejection and to advance our understanding of immune tolerance, as part of our consortia funded by the Dutch Heart Foundation and ZonMW.

Job Description

In our group, we work to improve heart valve replacements in young children born with congenital heart disease. The current valve replacement options available in clinical practice cannot grow with the growing heart of a child and can elicit immune responses that destroy and calcify implanted valves. Therefore, these young patients require multiple invasive operations throughout their lives. In our group “Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology” we investigate whether we can develop a living valve that can grow with the heart and is safe from immune rejection. Alongside our advances in in-situ tissue engineering (TE) of heart valves, we investigate immunoengineering of biological valves as an alternative approach. We have developed lentiviral gene delivery systems to introduce genes in the valves that can prevent them from being recognized by immune cells. Further unraveling the optimal mechanisms to shield tissue from immune rejection and keep heart valves alive outside of the human body are essential components to move this approach forward.

You will generate unprecedented experimental data as a pioneer in the field to unravel these mechanisms with the goal of shielding heart valves from immune rejection. Your investigations will combine knowledge from the fields of placental immune tolerance and placental organoids and sophisticated in vitro experiments that mimic the in vivo immune responses in the valve. Furthermore, you will build upon our work on bioreactors for tissue-engineered heart valves and in-house experience in heart perfusion models to build a system that can maintain viable heart valves outside of the human body.  

To that end, your research will include a selection of techniques including: i) in vitro (co-)cultures using primary human cells as well as advanced analytical methods for cellular phenotyping, such as RNA-sequencing ii) tissue culture and sophisticated tissue analysis including advanced microscopy, iii) flow-based bioreactor development and testing, iv) immune cell co-culture assays. You are expected to write a doctoral thesis and publish your research results in scientific journals. A small part of your doctoral position will involve teaching in courses as well as the supervision of students at the bachelor’s and master’s levels offered by the group. Also, an educational and professional development program will be offered to you.

Embedding

You will be embedded in a highly inspiring research environment, both socially and professionally, which facilitates access to high-end research facilities, as well as fosters interdisciplinary collaborations. You will be an integral member of the Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology (STEM) group of the Department Biomedical Engineering, and specifically operate at the interface of the teams led by dr Marijn Peters (Translational Cardiovascular Immunoshielding) and prof Carlijn Bouten (Cell-Matrix Interactions for Cardiovascular Tissue Regeneration) at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at TU/e. You will also work together with the team of Prof. Bas van Rijn (Perinatal Health and Technology) to build upon their work of in vitro placental models to study and unravel the successful mechanisms of immune tolerance as found in the placenta.

Your project is part of our consortium with the BIOSHIELD consortium of the Hartstichting and ZonMW Off Road project: BIOengineering immune Shielded Heart valve Implants: Engineering Living Donor tissue by translating prenatal protection mechanisms from the womb to the heart. In this consortium, we work together with cardiothoracic surgery and transplantation immunology at the University Medical Center Utrecht and the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital and the ETB-Bislife Multi Tissue Center. We stimulate and foster cross-institutional collaborations as part of the project.

Job Requirements

• A master’s degree (or an equivalent university degree) in Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Sciences, Materials Sciences, or comparable discipline.
• Experience with cell and tissue culture is a must. Competencies with gene editing, mechanobiology, immunology, bioreactors, and preclinical research will be considered as a relevant added value.
• A research-oriented attitude.
• Ability to effectively communicate scientific ideas, foster collaborations and have a capability for independent thinking.
• Ability to work independently within a multidisciplinary team with researchers at various academic levels.
• Fluent in spoken and written English (C1 level).

Conditions of Employment

• A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you: 
• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate assessment after nine months. You will spend a minimum of 10% of your four-year employment on teaching tasks, with a maximum of 15% per year of your employment. 
• To support and mentor you during your PhD and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will have free access to a personal development program for PhD students (PROOF program).
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. € 2,901 max. € 3,707).  
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%. 
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process. 
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.  
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs. 
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates. 

Information

Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please contact the hiring manager dr. Marijn Peters ([email protected]) or prof. Carlijn Bouten ([email protected]). For information about terms of employment, please contact Sascha Sanchez, HR advisor, ([email protected])

Visit our website for more information about the application process or the conditions of employment.

Curious to hear more about what it’s like as a PhD candidate at TU/e? Please view these promotional videos about our university as well as what is it like to be a PhD with us and what to expect (these hyperlinks will forward you to YouTube).

Application

We invite you to submit a complete application by using the “apply-now” button. The application should include a:

• Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
• Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references and a brief description of your MSc thesis.
• University transcripts including the courses (and marks) that you took during your bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.