Post-doctoral researcher Artificial Intelligence

The Acutelines research group at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) seeks an enthusiastic and ambitious postdoctoral researcher to develop and implement innovative acute sepsis care aided by molecular point-of-care diagnostics (2 years).

Project description

Sepsis is a life-threatening syndrome caused by a dysregulated host response to infection, leading to organ dysfunction. The global burden is astonishingly high: sepsis causes one in five deaths - more than twenty people per minute worldwide. Recognition of early sepsis is challenging, but of utmost importance to allow timely initiation of adequate care. Infectious diseases, which may lead to sepsis, are among the most common non-traumatic reasons for emergency department admission and require a relatively large number of resources for correct diagnosis and treatment (i.e., staff, bed occupancy, diagnostic tests). The discriminative performance of clinical tools to facilitate the recognition of sepsis is very limited. Consequently, identifying patients at risk for deterioration and needing treatment escalation mostly depends on physicians’ gut feeling. We propose developing and implementing an innovative sepsis care pathway to support personalized early sepsis management, which is based on current sepsis care and will be improved using state-of-the-art bedside diagnostics. Here, we foresee a significant role for artificial intelligence to integrate demographic data, vital parameters, electrophysiologic waveforms (e.g., EKG, PPG), and molecular data to facilitate the timely recognition of patients at risk of deterioration, predict their clinical response to treatment and support personalized clinical decisions. Inflammatix’ TriverityTM is an innovative point-of-care platform to aid in the diagnosis of infection and sepsis by measuring the patient’s immune response to bacteria and viruses that will be embedded into the clinical care pathway. Not only do we expect that such an innovative care pathway will result in treatment decisions tailored to the patient’s individual needs, but we also aim to reduce the use of resources at the emergency department with relevance to keep acute care affordable and accessible in the future.

Job description

We are collecting high-quality big data involving demographic and medical data from the electronic health record, combined with vital parameters, electrophysiological waveforms, and cross-omics data in our data-biobank Acutelines (www.acutleines.nl). As a postdoctoral researcher, you will develop a machine-learning algorithm that integrates molecular data from whole-blood (i.e., RNA sequencing) with medical data to support early recognition of sepsis and prediction of response to treatment. You will guide a clinical implementation study of Inflammatix’ TriVerityTM that can provide personalized decision support for early sepsis at the bedside. To support the successful implementation and adoption of novel clinical tools, you will organize and guide a working group on Acute Care Innovation of relevant stakeholders to identify their needs, and also co-supervise Master-/PhD students in research projects dedicated to improving early recognition of sepsis. You will present findings at scientific meetings and write manuscripts and grant proposals, and will closely work with experts from different disciplines within the UMCG (including Acute and Intensive Care, Internal Medicine, and Innovation Center), the University of Oldenburg (Artificial Intelligence), and experts from the industry (a.o., Inflammatix).

Working environment

The UMCG is one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands and takes care of an adherence region of > 2.5 million inhabitants in the north of the Netherlands. As a post-doctoral researcher, you will be appointed to Acutelines (Department of Acute Care) and embedded in the Early Sepsis research line that is a collaboration between the Departments of Acute Care, Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacology. The research group consists of enthusiastic researchers with backgrounds in (technical) medicine, data science, and biomedical science dedicated to developing personalized acute medicine by improving early sepsis recognition and prediction of response to therapy and identifying novel therapeutic targets. The Department of Acute Care conducts high-quality care for approximately 25,000 patients annually. Post-doctoral researchers are enrolled in the UMCG Postdoc Council. Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen (RUG) has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative center of higher education, offering high-quality teaching and research. Belonging to the best research universities in Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge. Groningen is a thriving university city set in quiet, spacious surroundings.

Qualifications

You are a creative and enthusiastic researcher with a PhD-degree in data or life sciences, such as artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, (technical) medicine, medical biology, biomedical or pharmaceutical sciences or similar, with a clear interest in big data and an affinity with organization of acute care and medical applications. You are a team player with excellent project management skills and extensive data science experience – including artificial intelligence techniques. You have good writing and data visualization skills, as evidenced by your publication list and preferably previously obtained grants. You want to lead implementation studies to translate the research outcome into clinical applications. Proficiency in one of the following areas is a prerequisite: -omics data analysis, big data science, artificial intelligence, organization management, . Good social and communicative skills, team spirit, creativity, and intelligence are essential. The UMCG has a preventive Hepatitis B policy. The UMCG can provide you with the vaccination, should it be required for your position.

What do we offer

This is a full-time appointment for two years starting from November 1st (negotiable). Your salary will be a maximum of € 5.504,- gross per month (scale 10), depending on your qualifications and relevant experience, based on a full-time appointment. In addition, the UMCG will offer you 8% holiday pay, and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for Medical Centres (CAO-UMC).