Post-doctoral Fellow in Nutrition and Health – Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH)

To be part of the Nutrition and Health Research Group (Head: Dr. Torsten Bohn) within the Department of Precision Health at the LIH.

Background. Public health concerns exist worldwide due to the rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases and co-morbidities, including in particular cardiometabolic complications. Many of these are related to oxidative stress and low antioxidant status along with chronic inflammation. Secondary plant compounds are an important group of non-essential plant constituents whose intake has been related to health beneficial effects. However, their mode of action is often not clear, and aspects including their antioxidant properties during digestion, i.e. before absorption, and potential prebiotic aspects on the gut microbiota are clearly understudied topics.

Objectives. The aim is to define a 2-year project for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) under the Postdoctoral Fellowship (PF) call of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, of which the Post-doctoral Researcher would be in charge. The topic should involve digestion and prebiotic-like properties of phytochemicals such as carotenoids or phenolics. This should include aspects of their bioaccessibility, bioavailability and fermentability during digestion related to anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, as tested by in vitro digestion, cell models, and models of the colonic phase/gut microbiota.

Training and research environment. The Nutrition and Health Research Group is a dynamic and multinational team belonging to the Department of Precision Health. The Nutrition and Health Research Team works at the intersection of basic research and nutritional epidemiology with a focus on translational aspects to improve population health.

We leave some flexibility to the candidate’s ideas, in order to further develop the research project in collaboration with our team. Of note, the project has to be further developed by the Post-Doc in collaboration with our team, from now on until September 2022. The project proposal should be submitted by the 14th of September 2022 for Marie-Curie’s funding. The work on the project might start in early-mid 2023 if funded.

This project will be co-supervised by Dr. Torsten Bohn & Dr. Farhad Vahid.

Key Skills, Experience and Qualifications
• PhD (degree obtained by the deadline of MSCA PF application at latest) with a background/ education in nutrition, biochemistry, molecular chemistry or equivalent with a maximum of 8-year experience in research after PhD award.
• Hands-on laboratory experience, preferrably on cell lines and analytical aspects.
• Knowledge on digestion and/or gut microbiota as well as statistics are assets.
• Excellent time management, rigor, perseverance, scientific creativity and originality, writing skills, sense of priority and ability to work with others.
• Fluency in English and excellent writing skills is mandatory.

Specific Eligibility Condition for the Call
Candidates should not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Luxembourg for more than 12 months since the 14th of September 2019.

More information about the LIH can be found here: https://www.lih.lu/en/