PhD - Nutritional metabolomics

Chalmers University of Technology

Gothenburg, Sweden

Description

The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering promotes research and education for sustainable development, for improved health and quality of life. Our research ranges from natural science and bioscience, applied chemistry and biotechnology to chemical engineering. Our educational programs are characterized by technological solutions for improving people’s everyday life, and are continuously developed for meeting and promoting societal and industrial development. We have approximately 380 employees, divided into five research divisions and one administrative unit. We are situated at campus Johanneberg. Our department is characterized by stimulation of world leading research, in an environment where people develop and create new knowledge. The Food Science group within the Department currently has around 25 people (including 11 are PhD students).  The research within the Food Science group concerns chemical, biological, nutritional (including international nutrition) and technical aspects of food, and conducts clinical trials in conjunction with the Sahlgrenska University Hospital located close by.  The group has good laboratory facilities, including cell models, in vitro digestion modelling, and analysis of vitamins and minerals in food and biological samples. This PhD position will be focused on establishing and applying metabolomics to food science and nutrition questions, with a focus on applying metabolomics to dietary assessment.  This position will be in a new laboratory dedicated to metabolomics, including new mass spectrometry instrumentation.  The first part of the PhD project will be based around setting up, testing and validating the metabolomics analyses, with the second phase focused on running clinical trials for the purpose of investigating if metabolomics can be a useful tool for dietary assessment. The laboratory is within the Food Science group at Chalmers, which has strengths in the areas of mineral nutrition, in vitro models, phytochemicals, marine-food science and food biotechnology.  The group has strong collaborations with the systems biology group at Chalmers, as well as other institutions around Sweden and internationally.  The successful application will have the opportunity to make use of these networks to carry out their research. The majority of your working time is devoted to your own research studies. As a PhD student you are expected to develop your own ideas and communicate scientific results orally as well as in written form. While most of your working time will be devoted to your own research studies, the position will normally include up to 20% departmental work, mostly teaching duties.  The employment is limited to a maximum of five years.

Requirements

You should have a Master of Science or equivalent degree in chemistry, biology, biochemistry, food science or nutrition, or experience in a related area.  Practical experience with laboratory work and a strong interest in nutrition and food science are essential.  Experience in chromatography/mass spectrometry, multivariate statistics and metabolomics are advantageous.  Applicants should be able to demonstrate ability to both work independently and as part of collaborative teams, as well as be organised.  Applicants should have a high level of both verbal and written English.  Some teaching will be required as part of this position, and while post-graduate courses are taught in English, undergraduate courses are normally taught in Swedish.  Applicants who do not have Swedish as native language are expected to be able to teach in Swedish after two years of employment.

More information and applications

The application should be marked with Ref 20130062 and written in English. The application should be sent electronically

(http://www.chalmers.se/en/about-chalmers/vacancies/Pages/default.aspx?rmpage=job&rmjob=1211) and be attached as pdf-files, as below:

• Application:  (Please name the uploaded document in ReachMee as: APPLICATION, family name, ref. number)
- CV
- attested copies of education certificates, including grade reports and other documents, English language test, e.g. TOEFL score (if English is not your native tongue)
- letters of recommendation from academic institutions and/or previous employers (optional)
• A letter of application detailing your specific qualifications for the position and why you are interested in doing a PhD within the group (named: QUALIFICATIONS, family name, ref. number)
- maximum one A4 page
• Publications: (named: PUBLICATION, family name, ref. number)
- relevant work such as bachelor's or master's thesis (or outline of a thesis under preparation) can be included here.

For questions, please contact:

Dr Alastair Ross, Food Science, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Alastair.Ross@chalmers.se