You are thinking of doing your PhD in the Life Sciences and are interested in research topics like healthy ageing and age-associated diseases? The Cohorts for Healthy Ageing (CoAGE) is offering talented, young scientists the chance to work on cutting edge research projects in the field of ageing research and epidemiological studies.

You will be part of the CoAGE graduate programme. This programme focuses on investigating the causes of age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer, and why they often occur together. CoAGE brings together experts who are studying healthy ageing and age-related diseases to address current issues in an interdisciplinary manner. Each of these experts leads one of the major German ageing studies and will supervise a CoAGE PhD student where the study is located.

PhD position on ‘Deciphering the Interplay between Ageing and Thrombotic Disease: Mechanisms and Implications’ in Mainz, Germany

Due to demographic developments in Germany, research into ageing is becoming increasingly important. Ageing is a highly complex process that is often associated with multimorbidity and reduced quality of life and has therefore become one of the greatest challenges for healthcare systems. Thrombotic diseases, i.e. cardiovascular diseases in which blood clots form and block blood vessels, are one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The incidence rises sharply with increasing age, although the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood.

This doctoral thesis will give you the opportunity to investigate the diverse and complex research questions on the influence of ageing processes on thrombotic diseases from an epidemiological, medical and molecular biological perspective. To this end, multidimensional data from a large long-term cohort study, the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS, www.gutenberg-gesundheitsstudie.de), will be analysed using innovative methods. Due to the size of the study and the unique depth of data for each study participant at several points in time, it is regarded as a multidisciplinary lighthouse project for Mainz as a centre of ageing research. The design of the GHS as a life-span study covers the entire age spectrum, so that early ageing processes and their role in the risk of thrombotic diseases can already be investigated. By networking with other population-based cohort studies as part of the CoAGE graduate programme and integrating the data, the research questions can be examined meta-analytically and the results validated. As part of the project, you will be able to network and collaborate with leading international scientists as part of a multidisciplinary team.

Supervision: Philipp Wild (University Medical Centre Mainz); The Gutenberg Health Study

Requirements

Are you an ambitious, young scientist looking to push the boundaries of research while interacting with colleagues from multiple disciplines and cultures? Would you like to employ bioinformatics and cutting-edge computational biology to advance translational research? Then joining CoAGE is your opportunity to give your scientific career a flying start!

Further requirements:

• Master or equivalent
• Interactive personality & good command of English
• 2 letters of reference
• background in bioinformatics, biostatistics or data science is a plus

What else you need to know

• Starting Date: 01.10.2024
• Duration: 3 years
• Deadline: 31.08.2024
• International applicants: we will assist you through the visa process, and also with your application for a residence/work permit after your arrival in Germany.

Have we sparked your interest?

To apply, please send a single PDF file containing your cover letter, CV, certificates and at least two professional references to coage@imb-mainz.de. In your email, please specify the project for which you are applying. IMB is an equal opportunity employer.

Declaration of Consent and Data Protection

By sending us your application, you are consenting to us saving your personal data in order to carry out the selection process. You can find more information on data protection and retention periods at https://www.imb.de/jobs/data-protection.