PhD Position in Discovery of Novel Biomarkers for Chronic Wound Formation

Project Details

The ‘Multi-omics for healthcare materials’ and ‘Nanomaterials Spectroscopy and Imaging’ groups are initiating a multidisciplinary project to find novel protein and metabolite biomarkers specific for the early stages of chronic wound development, in close collaboration with several other Empa groups. With the ultimate goal of treating and preventing chronic wounds, the project will be a component of a bigger endeavour centred on constructing a precise, self-care-integrated system to fully understand, simulate, and monitor skin wound progression.

The candidate will carry out thorough proteome and metabolomic characterisation of patient wound exudates with an emphasis on characterising chronic wounds resulting from venous ulcers. In addition, the candidate will present how metabolic profiling and biomarker identification in wound exudates may be accomplished quickly, noninvasively, and label-free using Raman spectroscopy.

Research Duties

  • Large-scale data analysis, programming and statistical evaluation 
  • Implementation of established and development of new workflows for biomarker identification from omics datasets (proteomics, metabolomics, Raman) 
  • Combining Raman spectroscopy and mass spectrometry-based proteomics, along with cutting-edge machine learning approaches, to enable timely identification of high-risk for chronic wound formation
  • Coordinate preparation of wound fluids and perform Raman spectroscopy measurements 
  • Coordination of activities with project partners, including clinicians 
  • Preparation of results for publishing and presentation at conferences

Requirements

  1. Strong background in computational biology, physics, physical chemistry or materials science,
  2. Prior experience with Raman spectroscopy,
  3. Strong programming and statistical knowledge, including machine learning,
  4. Interest in clinically applied research and enthusiasm for combining experimental and computational work.  

For more details and application, visit the official website