PhD: Environmental Exposures and Early Onset Breast Cancer (HER-Care, MSCDN DN)

At Utrecht University (Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences), we focus on understanding how environmental and lifestyle exposures contribute to the risk of early-onset and hereditary breast cancer. This position (Doctoral Candidate 6) will investigate the external exposome — the totality of environmental exposures — and its links with breast cancer risk.

Your job

In this PhD project, “Environmental Exposures and Early Onset Breast Cancer ”, you will:

• Link high-resolution exposome surfaces (from projects such as EXPANSE and EXPOSOME-NL) to large population cohorts, including the ESCALATION study on early-onset breast cancer;
• Apply advanced statistical, and machine-learning methods to identify and validate environmental determinants of breast cancer risk;
• Integrate external (environmental) and internal (biological) exposome data to build a more complete understanding of environmental contributions to cancer;
• A 4 month secondment in collaboration with the lab of Jana Klanova, RECETOX, BRNO, Czech republic: Quantify the internal exposome using high-resolution mass-spectrometry for analysis of 500 case-control pairs in the ESCALATION study;
• Second secondment of 4 months in collaboration with Prof. Carla van Gils at KWF Dutch Cancer Society: Aid in the translation of the research into public health policy recommendations for breast cancer prevention and surveillance strategies;
• Collaborate closely with other HER-CARE doctoral candidates and partner institutes across Europe;
• Disseminate your results through scientific publications and international conferences.

IT Procesmanager

Als IT Procesmanager bewaak je het release- en changemanagementproces, met ondersteuning van procescoördinatoren. Je stuurt bij waar nodig en je zorgt dat de processen goed aansluiten op Agile werken en nieuwe thema’s zoals NIS2 en AI. Je werkt nauw samen met je team en maakt processen slimmer en toekomstbestendig.

Concreet ga je:

• het Change Advisory Board (CAB) voorzitten en besluiten begeleiden;
• het changemanagementproces beheren en waar nodig verbeteren;
• rapportages aanleveren ten behoeve van maand- en jaarrapportages;
• releasemanagement inrichten en verder ontwikkelen;
• releasemanagement afstemmen op een Agile manier van werken;
• onderzoeken hoe je AI-toepassingen kunt inzetten om processen slimmer te maken.

Je doet dit samen met je team, bestaande uit: een Incident- en Problem Manager, een Configuration Manager en twee IT Service Continuity Managers. In dit team combineren we ambitie met een prettige sfeer. Collega’s omschrijven de werkomgeving als open, vriendelijk en gericht op positief gedrag. Het nemen van initiatief wordt gewaardeerd en er is altijd ruimte voor verbetering en ontwikkeling.

PhD: Environmental Exposures and Early Onset Breast Cancer (HER-Care, MSCDN DN)

At Utrecht University (Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences), we focus on understanding how environmental and lifestyle exposures contribute to the risk of early-onset and hereditary breast cancer. This position will investigate the external exposome — the totality of environmental exposures — and its links with breast cancer risk.

In this PhD project, “Environmental Exposures and Early Onset Breast Cancer ”, you will:

• Link high-resolution exposome surfaces (from projects such as EXPANSE and EXPOSOME-NL) to large population cohorts, including the ESCALATION study on early-onset breast cancer;
• Apply advanced statistical, and machine-learning methods to identify and validate environmental determinants of breast cancer risk;
• Integrate external (environmental) and internal (biological) exposome data to build a more complete understanding of environmental contributions to cancer;
• A 4 month secondment in collaboration with the lab of Jana Klanova, RECETOX, BRNO, Czech republic: Quantify the internal exposome using high-resolution mass-spectrometry for analysis of 500 case-control pairs in the ESCALATION study;
• Second secondment of 4 months in collaboration with Prof. Carla van Gils at KWF Dutch Cancer Society: Aid in the translation of the research into public health policy recommendations for breast cancer prevention and surveillance strategies;
• Collaborate closely with other HER-CARE doctoral candidates and partner institutes across Europe;
• Disseminate your results through scientific publications and international conferences.

Academic grant writer for Infection and Immunity research

Your responsibilities include:

• Supporting idea formation and assessing alignment with (inter)national funding calls;
• Identifying suitable funding opportunities and advising researchers on funding strategies;
• Identifying collaboration partners, including academic, private, and industrial partners;
• Drafting, reviewing, and editing competitive grant proposals (personal fellowships, project grants, and consortium grants);
• Preparing and coordinating project budgets in collaboration with researchers and financial support staff;
• Acting as a point of contact with funding organizations;
• Supporting selected post-award activities, such as project coordination and reporting, in collaboration with the PI.

You will work closely with our Faculty Research Support Office to identify relevant research funding opportunities and ensure alignment with institutional processes. In addition, you will be actively engaged in expanding and maintaining the group’s professional network, including private partners. Additionally, you will participate in monthly meetings with fellow grant writers and project managers across the Faculty, providing opportunities for peer support and knowledge exchange.

The research within the division focuses on understanding a broad spectrum of immunological and infectious disease topics, including mechanisms of innate and adaptive immune responses, prevention and treatment of bacterial infections, antimicrobial resistance, and the role of extracellular vesicles in infection in both humans and animals. More information about the research groups (Infection Biology, Immunology and Clinical Infectiology) can be found on the website.

You will work in a multi-disciplinary, international, inspiring and professional environment that values initiative, collaboration, entrepreneurship and professional development.

This position offers many opportunities to further develop your talents, which will benefit your career. You will receive coaching and feedback from your colleagues on a regular basis, and there are multiple opportunities to follow specific courses and training programs within the Utrecht University Development Program.

PhD Position in Virus-Glycan Interactions

You will study how Influenza A viruses interact with complex glycans and how receptor binding evolves across strains and host species. Depending on your background and interests, you will contribute through complementary approaches such as:

• molecular and cell-based assays of influenza receptor binding;
• enzymatic modification or biosynthesis of glycans;
• biochemical characterisation of virus–glycan interactions;
• analytical glycomics (e.g., mass spectrometry) of tissue or array-derived glycans.

These insights will be integrated to define glycan features that govern influenza attachment and to develop advanced in vitro receptor models reflecting airway tissues.

Your tools:

• Interdisciplinary receptor analysis: you will work with glycan arrays, engineered glycans, influenza binding assays, and—depending on expertise—molecular biology, enzymology, biochemical assays, or analytical mass spectrometry.
• Collaborative environment: you will join a multidisciplinary team spanning chemical biology, glycoscience, and virology, with close collaborations with national influenza researchers.

Your impact:

• Fundamental insight: you will uncover how Influenza A viruses adapt receptor binding to different hosts and tissues, advancing understanding of influenza evolution and host specificity.
• Preparedness: you will help establish physiologically relevant glycan-based receptor models to support pandemic risk assessment and antiviral strategies.