PhD position in organoids for personalized antiviral testing

For rapid control of virus outbreaks, fast availability of antivirals is a major bottleneck. In DETECTIVE, innovative models will be used for setting up an antiviral testing pipeline without the need for animals models. This doctoral project will focus on developing patient-derived organotypic models to test and optimise broad-spectrum antiviral therapies. Organotypic models, such as human organoids, are miniaturised in vitro organ cultures that mimic the human tissue-specific context. In this project, gut organoid models co-cultured with immune cells will be used to determine antiviral efficacy of available broadly acting antiviral against a scala of outbreak viruses such as enteroviruses and West-Nile virus. Patient-specific responses to virus infections will be assessed with integrated -omics techniques, and patient-dependent responses to antiviral therapy will be used to develop personalized medicine regimens for the future. With this project we will set the stage for an innovative human antiviral testing pipeline for viral outbreaks.

Would you like to know more about the different phases within the PhD trajectory? You can read more about this on this page.

At the Amsterdam UMC, DETECTIVE is looking for a Doctoral Candidate (DC) to work on Work Package 1. As DC6, your objectives are:

• To establish patient-derived gut organoid mucosa models
• To test a panel of broadly acting antiviral compounds in patient-derived gut mucosa organoid models
• To identify virus and host factors determining treatment response by transcriptomics and proteomics