Doctoral position HORIZON-MSCA-Doctoral Network LipidBRIGHT

Organisation/Company KU LEUVEN Research Field Medical sciences » Medicine Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Final date to receive applications 27 Feb 2026 - 23:59 (UTC) Country Belgium Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Offer Starting Date 1 Sep 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe - MSCA Reference Number BAP-2026-88 Marie Curie Grant Agreement Number  Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

An Innovative Doctoral Network Are you fascinated by how lipids contribute to human disease? Step into the world of lipid research with the European doctoral network Lipid

BRIGHT to uncover how lipid signalling and metabolism drive disease—and innovate future therapies. Lipids are of vital importance through interaction in cell membranes, as energy source and in cellular signalling and function. As such, they also play decisive roles in cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer and chronic inflammatory disease. These diseases affect 33%, 60%, 10% and 33% of Europeans, and are responsible for >

60% of global deaths. The European Doctoral Network Lipid

BRIGHT combines scientists, clinicians, companies and stakeholder organisations with expertise in these disease fields. By integrating expertise in lipids from the clinical, biomedical, technological and data science field across disease borders and by transferring complementary knowledge and technology, Lipid

BRIGHT aims to speed up innovations towards improved disease prevention, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy.

• Excellent scientific training on interdisciplinary level, covering liquid biochemistry and pathophysiology as well as clinical application.
• Excellent complementary skills in personal and career development as well as business training required to extend beyond scientific research.
• Exposure to both academic and non‑academic environments, required to build bridges between researchers and entrepreneurs and support the future translation of research findings in innovative products and services.

Lipid

BRIGHT builds on available patient cohorts, advanced technologies and established cooperations and strives to synergistically improve structural training on European level. Lipid

BRIGHT will nurture the development of young, broadly‑trained scientists able to successfully bridge clinical with basic research as well as academia and industry, which is a cornerstone in effectively combatting complex diseases as cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer and chronic inflammatory disease.

Contributing partners in Lipid

BRIGHT:

• Universiteit Maastricht (NL)
• Catholic University KU Leuven (BE)
• University Hasselt (BE)
• University Hospital Jena (DE)
• INSERM (FR)
• University Utrecht (NL)
• Sci Cross (SE)
• RD –Néphrologie SAS (FR)
• University of Bern (CH)

One PhD position is available at the Department of Oncology, Laboratory of Lipid Metabolism and Cancer, at KU Leuven. The project has a duration of 36 months.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Johan Nes Swinnen

Title: Development of lipid biomarkers for anti‑lipogenic cancer therapy in patients.

The doctoral candidate will focus on developing lipid‑based biomarkers to improve anti‑lipogenic cancer therapies. Cancer progression and treatment response are strongly influenced by lipid metabolism, but patient stratification remains challenging due to tumor heterogeneity and the lack of reliable markers. The research will involve advanced analysis of blood tumour samples from prostate cancer patients enrolled in clinical trials combining lipogenesis inhibitors and dietary interventions.

Using cutting‑edge lipidomics technologies the project aims to identify predictive lipid signatures, link them to biological and clinical outcomes, and integrate AI‑driven analysis to create cost‑effective prognostic tools validated in independent cohorts.

• At the date of recruitment, doctoral candidates (DCs) (i.e., may not have a doctoral degree).
• DCs can be of any nationality.
• DCs must comply with the following mobility rule: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the…