PhD Position Coronary Vasomotor Dysfunction & Early Detection in ANOCA Patients

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women, yet millions with chest pain suffer from ANOCA, a condition caused by dysfunction of the coronary vessels that is often missed by standard diagnostic tests. As a result, patients can face years of uncertainty and repeated hospital visits before receiving a diagnosis, while the current gold-standard CFT test is invasive, costly, painful, and limited available.

In this PhD project, you will help develop the first blood-based test for ANOCA, combining next generation sequencing, multi-omics analyses, and advanced machine learning to diagnose the disease and identify its underlying subtype from a simple blood draw. This approach could reduce diagnosis time from years to weeks, replace unnecessary invasive procedures, lower healthcare costs, and enable earlier, more personalized treatment for a large and underserved patient population.

By integrating clinical, sequencing data, and circulating biomarkers, the project aims to:

• Develop and validate advanced machine learning models for the stratification and diagnosis of ANOCA
• Provide cell‑type–resolved and pathway‑level mechanistic insights into ANOCA pathophysiology through multi‑omics analyses
• Contribute to the clinical translation, implementation, and commercialization of novel diagnostic technologies, including potential spin‑off creation

The project will be primarily conducted at the Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, UMC Utrecht, a leading centre for translational research in chronic coronary syndromes. You will work within a stimulating and highly interdisciplinary team that combines scientific, technical, clinical, and entrepreneurial expertise. In addition, you will collaborate closely with cardiologists and other healthcare professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of ANOCA patients.

We are looking for a highly motivated candidate with a Master’s degree in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Data Science, or a related field. Experience in biomedical or translational research is considered an advantage but is not required.

• You work well in a team, are reliable and professional, and perform effectively under pressure
• You are able to manage multiple priorities simultaneously and adapt to changing circumstances
• You can work within defined timelines and successfully deliver projects on schedule
• You are enthusiastic about combining scientific research with entrepreneurship and are eager to contribute to activities related to innovation, networking, and future venture creation
• You thrive in an interactive working environment where frequent communication, teamwork, and knowledge exchange are essential to success

• You have at least two years of experience programming in Python and R
• You have a solid understanding of machine learning principles, including model selection, training, performance evaluation, and validation
• You have experience working in a high-performance computing (HPC) environment and are familiar with Linux/Unix systems, Bash scripting, Git version control, and command-line bioinformatics tools
• You have experience handling, processing, and analysing large-scale biological and clinical datasets through the creation of robust pipelines
• You have experience with multi-omics data integration and sequencing data analysis. Experience with artificial intelligence applications, including large language models (LLMs) and generative AI, is considered an advantage

Are you the person we are looking for? Submit your application including your CV, a motivation letter, two reference letters, and links to any Git Hub repositories from previous projects.

• A salary between € 3217 and €4077 gross per month (salary scale OIO), based on full-time employment (36 hours)
• A position for a period of 4 years
• Year-end bonus of 8.3% and holiday allowance of 8%
• Pension insurance with ABP. We take care of approximately 70% of the monthly contribution
• 100% public transport reimbursement. Are you coming on foot, by bike or by car? You will then receive a reimbursement of € 0.18 per km (by car up to a max. of 40 km one way)
• Possibilities to develop yourself personally and professionally
• Cao à la carte:
  The option to select additional employment benefits in exchange for gross salary, such as purchasing a bicycle and memberships