PhD position BIO-COMPaSS Project

To what extent can biological age be modified through lifestyle, and does a reduction in biological age according to various biomarkers actually improve health? We're looking for a PhD student for our exciting BIO-COMPaSS project.

PhD position BIO-COMPaSS Project

Your function

As a PhD student your main mission is to help the BIO-COMPaSS community investigate, for a variety of biomarkers of biological age, how responsive they are to lifestyle, and what they say about someone’s current and future health. These biomarkers will include second and third generation epigenetic biomarkers of ageing. In this PhD project, you will make use of rich data from monozygotic and dizygotic twins, which uniquely allow you to separate genetic and environmental sources of variation and address causality.

You will begin by analysing existing large-scale biomarker datasets from cohorts including the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) to examine population-level associations between biological age biomarkers, lifestyle, and health or healthy ageing. Next, you will implement causal modelling using data from twins to test causal relationships between lifestyle, biomarkers of biological age, and healthy ageing. This will address the important questions of which biomarkers can be modified by a person’s lifestyle, and by how much, after accounting for genetic differences between people, and how large the causal impact of biological age reduction is on a person’s health.

In addition to analysing existing datasets, you will coordinate and contribute to the analysis of novel biomarkers measured on NTR samples. You will also select, based on longitudinal survey data, pairs of monozygotic twins with discordant lifestyles and invite these twins for new data collection to be carried out in collaboration with BIO-COMPaSS collaborators. In this way, you will work closely with an interdisciplinary team of researchers from multiple UMCs and universities.

The results from your thesis on causal inference, together with results from intervention studies conducted by other members of the BIO-COMPaSS community, will contribute to the development of an evidence-based set of biomarkers of ageing that could be implemented to work towards the ultimate goal of promoting healthy ageing in society.

This PhD project is carried out under the supervision of researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Department of Biological Psychology (Prof. dr. Meike Bartels and dr. Jenny van Dongen) and the University Medical Center Groningen (Prof. dr. Marco de Maria).

Your profile

We are seeking a motivated PhD candidate with a strong interest in ageing research, solid programming skills, and demonstrated experience in the analysis of large-scale omics data.

• MSc degree (research master) in a relevant field such as Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Statistics, Bioinformatics, Data Science, Biomedical Sciences, Genes in Behaviour and Health, or Behavioural Genetics
• Coursework in programming, omics data (genomics, epigenomics, metabolomics), advanced statistics, and causal inference
• Affinity with ageing and biomarker research
• Solid programming skills in statistical software such as R
• Demonstrated experience in analysing high-dimensional omics data, for example DNA methylation data
• Experience with the analysis of twin and family data is strongly preferred
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and as a team member
• Interest in interacting with research participants, for example inviting them for follow-up studies
• Experience with research data collection and participant contact is highly valued
• Because our participants are Dutch-speaking, a Dutch-speaking candidate is preferred

What do we offer?

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. In return for your efforts, we offer you:

• An employment contract of initially 1 year. If there is sufficient perspective, this will be extended to a total of 4 years. Your dissertation at the end of the fourth year forms the end of your employment contract.
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• Group insurance for partial disability with employer contribution of 50% of the premium
• Contribution to commuting expenses
• An optional model for designing a personalized benefits package

About the project

BIO-COMPaSS (BIOlogical age-driven, COMmunal, Personalised System for Sustainable health promotion) aims to motivate people to adopt a healthier lifestyle by making them aware of their biological age, a measure that often says more about health than the number of calendar years. BIO-COMPaSS focuses on developing personalised exercise and nutrition programmes that actually get people moving. The close collaboration between citizens, scientists and companies is unique. The project aims to reduce the biological age of participants by an average of five years. The approach offers the prospect of a future in which prevention and personal health play a central role in the healthcare system. The project is funded through the Netherlands Science Agenda (NWA) program.

About the department

At the Department of Biological Psychology of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, we conduct research and education on the causes of individual differences in health behaviours and disease outcomes using the Netherlands Twin Register as a main resource. It is a department with a long tradition in behavioural research where enthusiastic and ambitious academics work on generating knowledge and translating this into improvements in health and wellbeing. Our research on the role of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors belongs to the international top. For the BIO-COMPaSS project, there is a close connection with researchers from other universities and UMCs across the Netherlands, including UMCG, Amsterdam UMC, and Maastricht University.