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Saturday, April 12, 2008

Netherlands: PhD Research Program Modelling of Biomarkers and Disease Progression in COPD

Job description
TOP Institute Pharma (TI Pharma) has granted our proposalto set up a mechanism-based PKPD modelling platform. This platform focuses onthe transfer of knowledge from academia to the pharmaceutical industry and is acollaborative effort of four excellent academic institutes and six leadingglobal pharmaceutical industries. Unique to this platform is the availabilityof shared databases on disease and drug related parameters.

The aim ofthe platform is to provide a scientific basis for rational drug discovery anddevelopment with a strong focus on priority medicines. Among the various workinggroups, a research program has been started to evaluate biomarkers and diseaseprogression in COPD using longitudinal models. The primary scope of thisinvestigation is to establish which markers of disease have predictive valuefor the outcome of efficacy trials for stable and unstable COPD conditions.Subsequently, modelling will be used to optimise clinical trial design andcharacterise the relevance of different clinical trial factors and procedureson study power, bias and treatment effect size. Translational aspects will alsobe explored to allow better extrapolation from preclinical to clinical findings.The approach is based on hierarchical models and relies on the use of advanced statisticalsoftware tools such as NONMEM, WINBUGS and R.

We arelooking for a highly motivated PhD Student or post-doctoral scientist toinvestigate the research questions indicated above. This appointment will befor 4 years.

Requirements
The post-doctoralfellow should have the following background and competencies:

  • Astrong background in statistical modelling & simulation and/or Bayesianstatistics
  • Adegree in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Medicine, Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Physiology orequivalent scientific training
  • Birdeyes¢ view
  • Conceptualthinker
  • Problem-solvingand coaching skills are essential
  • Ambitious
  • Creative
  • Interested to perform research in a unique multidisciplinary setting

Organisation
The Leiden Division ofPharmacology at the Leiden/Amsterdam Center for Drug Research (LACDR) has along-standing expertise in the development of Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic(PKPD) models to predict efficacy and safety of drugs. Given the nature of thisproject, the main task of the principal post-doctoral fellow will be to coachthe PhD students and postdocs within the platform, to support model buildingand simulation and to identify underlying general principles shared amongindividual projects.

Conditions of employment
Theemployment for this position will be full time for 4 years.

Additional conditions of employment:

You will workas a team member of a TI Pharma project. The project team comprises academicand industrial partners. In this case, the partners are: University of Leiden,University of Groningen,the University Medical Center of Utrecht, the ErasmusMedical Center,Rotterdam and thecompanies Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, GSK, Nycomed, Organon/Schering Plough and Pfizer. You willattend a unique drug discovery education and training program offered by TI Pharma.

Additional Information
Additional information can be obtained through one of
the following links:
http://www.lacdr.nl

Application
You can apply by sending your application to:
Contactperson
Dr. O. Della Pasqua
Division of Pharmacology, Leiden/Amsterdam Center forDrug Research
Leiden,The Netherlands
Odp72514@gsk.com
+44 7876031907