Job offer at the andrology research laboratory, REPR / ANDRO pole, at the experimental and clinical research institute (IREC) – UCLouvain
Ph.D. student for the project « Fertility restoration after cancer in young boys: Placenta derivatives to support in vitro spermatogenesis »
Research project:
This project aims to develop an innovative approach to restoring fertility for prepubertal boys from a fragment of immature testicular tissue (ITT), frozen before the start of gonadotoxic treatments.
The aim is to develop a tailored culture system able to reproduce the spermatogenesis process in vitro as one of the options to restore a reproductive potential for infertile patients whose testicular tissue, that was cryobanked for fertility preservation before puberty, is contaminated with cancer cells and can thus not be autotransplanted.
The research objectives are the following:
- Nanoencapsulation of proteins from placenta conditioned medium (CM) and placental extract (PE) in niosomes
- Formulation and characterization a hybrid (based on decellularized placenta extracellular matrix) hydrogel for testicular organoid generation
- In vitro culture of testicular cells containing SSCs using different formulations of the hybrid hydrogel
- Use the different placenta derivatives (PE and CM) for the in vitro culture of SSCs within the selected hydrogel
- Compare the development of testicular organoids generated in the different conditions (using combination of placental derivatives with or without niosomes) to our previous control culture system that was able to generate human haploid spermatids in low amounts from prepubertal testicular tissue
Expected tasks:
By working in a multidisciplinary way with the research team, the candidate:
- Participates in laboratory team meetings (consultations and discussions on the various projects in progress)
- Participates in daily laboratory tasks related to the research project (e.g., developing lab protocols, stock management, orders)
- Participates in the training of students and interns
- Contributes to the drafting of funding requests
Offer:
- Doctoral scholarship for 4 years
- Working place: Andrology Lab, Pôle REPR/ANDRO, Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et clinique, UCLouvain, Woluwe Campus, Brussels, Belgium (54 Avenue Hippocrate +4, 1200)
- Starting of the new position: immediately or by mid-October 2024 at the latest.
Candidate profile:
- Master’s in biomedical sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, and bioengineers
- Wishing to do a doctorate in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences
- Knowledge/experience in animal care is a plus
- English proficiency (Level B2 or above)
- Appreciates teamwork
- Skills in qualitative and quantitative data analysis
Contact:
Potential candidates are invited to come forward as quickly as possible by sending a CV and a brief explanation of their motivations to the following e-mail address: christine.wyns@uclouvain.be with the mention "response to the doctoral offer ".