Your function

Scientific background:If you take a bus, you probably want the driver to be awake. Similarly, bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) have long been assumed to require metabolically active hosts. However, several recent studies and our own findings challenge this assumption. We have identified over a dozen phages capable of replicating in growth-arrested E. coli, suggesting that dormancy-killing is far more common than previously recognized. How do phages replicate in dormant cells? The phages we discovered are genetically diverse and differentially respond to bacterial knock-outs, pointing to multiple, evolutionarily distinct solutions to this challenge. 

Project: you will integrate high-throughput phenotypic screening with state-of-the-art genetic tools to understand how phages bypass bacterial dormancy. Furthermore, you will engineer these genes into phages that lack this capability, expanding their activity towards persistent bacterial populations. 

Impact: Your work will reveal fundamental new mechanisms in phage biology and has urgent clinical relevance: uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), a leading cause of recurrent urinary tract infections, and M. tuberculosis (Mtb), which evades antibiotics by entering dormancy, both exemplify the medical challenge of treating persistent infections. By developing novel phages active against dormant UPEC and Mtb, you will provide powerful new therapeutic options for the world’s most frequent and most deadly infections

Embedding: Your PhD project is funded by an NWO-M2 grant, supervised by Yuval Mulla (VU) and co-supervised by Coen Kuijl (VUmc). You will be embedded in the molecular microbiology department of the VU and will closely collaborate with a PhD student at the medical microbiology section of the Amsterdam UMC. The start date is flexible between September 1, , and December 1, .

Your duties

Your profile

Good grades for courses and especially for internships, as evidenced by an uploaded university-certified overview, are a strong plus.

What do we offer?

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and arrangements. Some examples: