PHD CANDIDATE NEUROPLASTICITY IN DEPRESSION, PHYSICIAN-RESEARCHER (MD)

The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) and Amsterdam UMC, department of Psychiatry have a vacancy for a joint PhD research project to better understand reduced neuroplasticity and synapse density as a mechanism for depression. The project is financed by Vrienden Herseninstituut, iCNS and Amsterdam Neuroscience.

WHAT DO YOU BRING WITH YOU?

• We are looking for a highly motivated PhD candidate who brings the following:
• A medical doctor (MD) degree, with an affinity for neuroscience;
• Demonstrated interest in medical research, in particular neuroscience;
• You have excellent writing and communication skills;
• You are able to work both independently and in a team;
• You are fluent in Dutch and English.

Depressive disorders are common, debilitating and often chronic disorders. Major depression affects children and adults, resulting in suffering, social isolation and sometimes suicide. Little is known about the underlying neurobiological mechanism, which is assumed multifactorial. One of the hypotheses is a reduced degree of neuroplasticity and synapse density, which is thought to be restored by various treatments we prescribe (such as esketamine, electroconvulsive therapy or magnetic stimulation). Research at the Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience and the NIN is aimed at understanding the underlying neurobiological mechanism and how forms of treatment affect it. Increasing insight into the mechanism of action can provide insight into new targets for treatment.
As a PhD candidate/student, you will work at both the Amsterdam UMC and the NIN, and you will act as a bridge between fundamental and clinical science. You work in a multidisciplinary and translational way: you translate findings from the lab to the patient, from molecule to behaviour and vice versa. In practice, this means that you will be involved in clinical trials with Positron Emission Tomography scans of patients with depression undergoing treatment, as well as perform immunohistochemical stains in the lab to count synapses in post-mortem brain tissue.