2 PhD Ποσιτιονσ in neonatal platelet transfusion research at Sanquin

Babies that are born prematurely often receive platelet transfusions to prevent bleeding when their platelet count drops below a certain threshold. A recent clinical trial unexpectedly showed that babies who were transfused liberally (at a higher threshold) had worse outcomes than babies who were transfused restrictively (at a lower threshold). In this research project we will gain fundamental insight into the function and activation pathways of adult and neonatal platelets and investigate why platelet transfusions can lead to adverse effects in premature babies and how we can improve our transfusion guidelines for this vulnerable population.
Two PhD students will work closely together in this project, one with a focus on fundamental research and one with a focus on clinical research. You will work closely together in all stages of the project and will be supervised by an interdisciplinary group of researchers including fundamental researchers, neonatologists, clinical epidemiologists and data scientists. As fundamental PhD student, you will use mass spectrometry-based proteomics to get a full understanding on the function and activation of blood platelets, investigate developmental hemostasis in premature babies, and you will investigate the effects of platelet transfusions on hemostasis in premature babies with and without bleeding. As clinical PhD student, you will implement an existing prediction model for bleeding into the electronic patient systems in neonatal intensive care units in the Netherlands. You will then use the data generated from this system to further develop and improve this model. You will be responsible for obtaining the blood samples needed for the fundamental assays, and will obtain the relevant clinical data to interpret these assays.