Bioprinting of a hierarchical vascularized liver construct

Bioprinting of a hierarchical vascularized liver construct

(ref. BAP-2025-31)
Laatst aangepast: 16/01/25

The successful candidate will conduct PhD research under the supervision of Prof. Heidi Declercq. You will play an active role in the research team, take part in workshops, conferences and other activities. You will be based at KU Leuven Campus Kulak, Department of Development and Regeneration of KU Leuven.
You will benefit from an established infrastructure for research and join the Tissue Engineering Lab. You will have access to specialized training courses and the opportunity to present your research at national and international conferences.

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Responsibilities

Your PhD project is part of a Horizon-EU project ‘NEOLIVER’. In ‘NEOLIVER’, large, dense, and vascularized fully functional bioprinted constructs suitable for transplantation will be developed. In this way, ‘NEOLIVER’ presents a disruptive alternative to donor organs for patients dealing with end-stage liver disease.

The aim of your PhD project is to bioprint a 3D hierarchical vascular network that will allow the perfusion of the engineered liver tissue. You will combine different bioprinting methods (extrusion, core-shell, microfluidic,…) and bioprint spheroids and single cells. You will work with endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, liver cells and supporting cell types.

Profile

• You must hold a MSc/Masters’ degree in biomedical sciences, biomedical engineering, bioengineering, pharmaceutical sciences, or equivalent related fields.
• You must have demonstrated following skills: cell culture, in vitro experiments, analysis, data analysis/statistics,...
• You must have solid knowledge of tissue engineering, biomaterials, biology,…
• You should be a team player with good oral and written communication skills.
• You should be eager to deliver presentations (oral or poster) at (inter)national symposiums or conferences
• Eager to carry out visitations to other laboratories for learning new techniques
• Eager to co-supervise the thesis projects of bachelor and master students
• Participation to education in the Faculty of Medicine

Offer

• A 1-year contract, that after positive evaluation is prolonged for a total of 4 years.
• Access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and equipment (bioprinter, light-sheet microscopy,…) and active collaborations with (inter)national laboratories.
• A stimulating, international research environment in an academic laboratory.

Interested? For more information please contact Prof. dr. Heidi Declercq, tel.: +32 56 24 64 25, mail: heidi.declercq1@kuleuven.be. You can apply for this job no later than April 21, 2025 via the online application tool

KU Leuven strives for an inclusive, respectful and socially safe environment. We embrace diversity among individuals and groups as an asset. Open dialogue and differences in perspective are essential for an ambitious research and educational environment. In our commitment to equal opportunity, we recognize the consequences of historical inequalities. We do not accept any form of discrimination based on, but not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, ethnic or national background, skin colour, religious and philosophical diversity, neurodivergence, employment disability, health, or socioeconomic status. For questions about accessibility or support offered, we are happy to assist you at this email address.

Heb je een vraag over de online sollicitatieprocedure? Raadpleeg onze veelgestelde vragen of stuur een e-mail naar solliciteren@kuleuven.be

Solliciteer voor deze functie

av_timer Tewerkstellingspercentage: Voltijds

location_city Locatie : Kortrijk

timer Solliciteren tot en met:
21/04/2025 23:59 CET

bookmarks Tags: Geneeskunde, Ontwikkeling en Regeneratie