PhD Genetic & environmental contributors to Alzheimer’s blood-biomarker changes

The project

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia. Recent studies showed blood-based biomarkers to be promising for identifying core pathologies of AD, even in the predementia stage where individuals still show normal cognitive functioning. In order to develop treatment strategies for AD, we need to know which factors drive the first pathological signs. Twin and family studies can be powerfull in identifying genetic and environmental risks for AD.

Within this project we aim to identify contributors to AD risk and possible confounders of the plasma biomarkers, by measuring blood-based biomarkers in blood samples collected in the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) Biobank study and combine these with the already very rich set of characteristics longitudinally obtained through the NTR (e.g. demographics, lifestyle, mental health, medication use, and comorbidities). We are looking for a PhD-student who is fully committed to this exciting and clinically relevant project.

About your role

The main tasks and resposibilities as a PhD candidate are:

• Coordinating and performing blood-biomarker analyses at the Amsterdam UMC Neurochemistry lab
• Statistical analyses, including multivariate genetic analyses, of the blood-biomarkers and longitudinally obtained NTR data
• Writing scientific articles that lead to a PhD thesis
• Active participation in scientific meetings of both the Neurochemical lab, Alzheimer Center, and the department of Biological Psychology, in which you will also present your own work.