PhD position: metabolic reprogramming in critical illness

The selected candidate will conduct translational PhD research under the supervision of Prof. Lies Langouche, Prof. Michael Casaer and Prof. Jan Gunst. You will join the Intensive Care Medicine Research Group, part of the department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium). We are a multidisciplinary, translational basic/clinical research team that combines a research laboratory with a large intensive care unit (ICU). This unique combination allows effective cross-talk between knowledge generated from patient studies and from animal and molecular studies in the laboratory.
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Project

Our research focuses on critical illness, what can be defined as any life-threatening condition for which the body requires intensive medical care to prevent death. One of the hallmarks of critical illness is the development of a hypercatabolic response which cannot be counteracted by nutrition alone. This project wants to unravel the observed metabolic dysregulation and identify how nutrition can play either a detrimental or beneficial role in the recovery process of critical illness. We will address our questions in a clinically relevant mouse model of intensive-care-supported critical illness and translate if possible to the human patient in retrospective and prospective studies. 

Keywords: Critical illness, sepsis, metabolism, nutrition

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Offer

• We offer a doctoral position for 1 year in an interdisciplinary environment.  After a positive evaluation, the position is prolonged with 3 years
• You will work in a translational multidisciplinary research team that is internationally recognized as the expert in research integrating Intensive Care Medicine and Endocrinology/Metabolism/Nutrition
• You will have access to state-of-the-art research facilities and will be registered in a specific program of the doctoral school

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. Lies Langouche, tel.: +32 16 33 05 24, mail: lies.langouche@kuleuven.be

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