KU Leuven is an autonomous university. It was founded in 1425. It was born of and has grown within the Catholic tradition.
The Laboratory for Muscle Diseases and Neuropathies at the Department of Neurosciences at KU Leuven, Belgium, is looking for a suitable PhD candidate to work on an interdisciplinary project focusing on natural history, outcome measures, blood biomarkers, muscle imaging, genetics, genotype-phenotype correlations, and innovative treatments in patients with diverse hereditary and acquired neuromuscular diseases.
The goal of this research project is to actively contribute to the field of genetic and acquired neuromuscular diseases in order to be fully prepared for future clinical trials with emerging novel (genetic) therapies. For this goal, novel state‑of‑the‑art technologies will be used: (1) to study the natural history of diverse genetic and acquired neuromuscular disorders; and (2) to explore a wide range of novel clinical, MR imaging and biochemical biomarkers as potential outcome measures in clinical trials in these diseases.
Cutting edge artificial intelligence (AI) technologies will be used to make the application of novel MRI techniques feasible in clinical practice. These AI tools with direct clinical implementation further emphasize the translational character of this project.
There will be an intensive collaboration with many other specialties and research groups, in KU Leuven and UZ Leuven. The candidate will be actively involved in patient recruitment, which will take place at the University Hospitals Leuven. Therefore, good knowledge of the Dutch language is needed, both orally and written.
The project requires careful planning, coordination, motivation and dedication.
The PhD candidate will disseminate the results on national and international conferences, publish scientific reports and prepare and defend a doctoral thesis manuscript. Therefore, good knowledge of the English language is necessary, both orally and written.
Profile
* You have a master in medicine, movement sciences, physiotherapy, biomedical sciences, medical sciences or another related discipline.
* Graduation with distinction (or more).
* Motivation and commitment for pursuing a PhD in the field of neuromuscular diseases.
* Social skills to provide the necessary and discrete contacts with patients and healthy controls.
* Languages: good knowledge of Dutch and English is required, both orally and written.
* Other required competences: proactive, communicative, accurate, able to work independently and in team, good organization and coordination skills.
Offer
* A PhD scholarship of 24 months, that can be prolonged with another 24 months.
* The purpose is to obtain a PhD after 48 months.
* The work will be directly supervised by Prof. dr. Kristl Claeys, neurologist and neuromuscular specialist at UZ Leuven and Head of the Laboratory of Muscle Diseases and Neuropathies at KU Leuven.
* Collaboration with many other specialties in UZ Leuven and research groups in KU Leuven and abroad.
* Access to state‑of‑the‑art novel technologies in outcome measures, biomarker research, genetics, MR imaging and artificial intelligence technologies.
* A dynamic productive environment with opportunities for further development and training.
* Start date to be determined (possible from February 1st 2026)
Interested?
For more information please contact Prof. dr. Kristl Claeys, tel.: +32 16 34 42 78, mail: kristl.claeys@uzleuven.be
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2025-12-31 23:59 (Europe/Brussels)
2025-12-31 23:59 (CET)
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