Two PhD students, department of Molecular Hematology

Sanquin Research, in collaboration with the Pediatric Hematology and Hematology departments of the Amsterdam University Medical Center, is looking for two PhD students for a project addressing blood transfusion in patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD).

What you will do
Providing safe transfusion products is the core business of Sanquin. Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited hemoglobinopathy, Transfusions are a cornerstone of treatment of patients with SCD and may be administered incidentally, such as for acute complications, or periodically in order to prevent complications such as stroke or other acute SCD-related complications.
There is a large interindividual variation between patients in survival of transfused RBCs . Very little is known about the mechanisms causing this variability in donor RBC survival in SCD patients. This project aims to improve our understanding of RBC survival as this may provide novel targets for therapeutic strategies to improve the survival of transfused RBCs. This will be done by  investigating the determinants of the survival of donor RBCs in SCD patients within  two closely related projects, one with an experimental focus on the innate immune system of patients with SCD, including molecular biology, fluorescence-based techniques and extensive cell culture and the other with a translational clinical focus.  We are looking for two highly motivated candidates, one with a Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences or a related discipline, and a Medical Doctor. Both PhD students will be embedded into the Graduate School of the Amsterdam UMC (location AMC).