Researcher-expert (postdoc) neuroimmunology

Background

The faculty of medicine and life sciences contributes to sustainable solutions for health-related issues as part of the civic Hasselt University. The faculty focusses on excellence in education and research and connects with society through a strong collaboration with our partners. Starting from continuous attention for quality and innovation, the faculty is a breeding ground and magnet for talent with an open view on society, from the region to the world.
The Biomedical Research Institute (BIOMED) at Hasselt University is a highly interactive and well-equipped multidisciplinary institute where both fundamental and applied research is performed to better understand the disease processes of (auto)immune, neurological and cardiac disorders (www.uhasselt.be/biomed/en).
Within this stimulating environment, we are looking for an enthusiastic postdoctoral researcher to strengthen our team.

Job content
We are an enthusiastic research team that aims to elucidate how metabolic pathways regulate inflammatory and repair processes within the central nervous system. Our final goal is to target these processes by nutritional and pharmaceutical interventions in order to resolve inflammation and promote tissue repair. Lipid metabolism is dysregulated in brain diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease, and is key in the regulation of immune cell function and the induction of brain repair. Therefore, we focus on how lipid pathways are involved in brain diseases and aim to target these pathways to develop better treatments. To this end we make use of patient derived cells and tissue, animal based in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo model systems, and innovative techniques (eg lipidomics, mass spectrometry-based imaging, single cell RNAseq, molecular and metabolic analysis, immunohistochemistry, multicolor flowcytometry…).
We seek a motivated postdoctoral researcher who complements the expertise within our research group. Besides doing high quality research you will supervise PhD and master students and actively participate in grant writing and teaching.

Profile

• You have a PhD in (bio)medical sciences (immunology, neuroscience) (or equivalent).
• You have a proven track record with publications relevant for the research topic.
• Expertise in neuroimmunology, macrophage/microglia/oligodendrocyte biology, lipid metabolism, nutrition, animal models and/or analysis of omics data is an asset.
• You are able to do research both independently as well in team context.
• You have excellent writing and communication skills in English.
• You have good problem-solving capacities.
• You show initiative.

Offer
You will be appointed and paid as Researcher-expert.
We offer a 2-year contract, with the possibility of extension after positive evaluation. UHasselt offers its employees numerous staff benefits.

Selection procedure
You can only apply online up to and including 30 April 2024.
The selection procedure consists of a preselection based on application file and an interview.

Further information
Prof. dr. Jerome HENDRIKS, +32-11-269207, jerome.hendriks@uhasselt.be

For questions about the selection procedure, please email jobs@uhasselt.be.