项目介绍

2026年5月23日

Ghent University is a world of its own. Employing more than 15.000 people, it is actively involved in education and research, management and administration, as well as technical and social service provision on a daily basis. It is one of the largest, most exciting employers in the area and offers great career opportunities.
With its 11 faculties and more than 85 departments offering state-of-the-art study programmes grounded in research in a wide range of academic fields, Ghent University is a logical choice for its staff and students.

YOUR TASKS

PhD FELLOWSHIP IN MOLECULAR MUSCLE BIOLOGY
The ultimate goal of the research fellowship is to obtain a doctoral degree. You will be primarily involved in the following project:
“Muscle signals beyond contraction: transcriptional response to exercise within and between muscle fibers”
Skeletal muscle displays an impressive degree of plasticity. Exercise-induced adaptations in skeletal muscle structure and function underlie training and health-promoting effects. Hence, physical activity and exercise training are key strategies in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The current project aims to explore the nature of within-fiber and between-fiber heterogeneity in transcriptional response to try and understand how recruited and non-recruited myofibers adapt to exercise. To this end, we will perform a series of experiments on single motor unit electrical stimulation in the rat and translate this to experimental conditions in humans. We will apply spatial transcriptomic techniques by imaging at subcellular level (RNAscope & Xenium). We aim to generate fundamental knowledge on transcriptional regulation between and within multinucleated cells, and thereby on the exercise-induced muscle plasticity and its related health and performance implications.
The project is collaborative, with expertise from Prof. Jimmy Van den Eynden, from the UGent Computational Cancer Genomics and Tumor evolution on bioinformatics and computational techniques, from Prof. Jo Vandesompele (Dept.of Biomolecular Medicine, UGent) for RNA quantification and data-analysis methods and from Prof. Jan Celichowski in Poznan (Poland) for neurobiology expertise and a unique rodent model for single motor unit electrical stimulation.
Representative paper: Van der Stede T, Van de Loock A, … , Derave W. Cellular deconstruction of the human skeletal muscle microenvironment identifies an exercise-induced histaminergic crosstalk. Cell Metabolism 37: 842-856, 2025. DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2024.12.011

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• We are looking for a highly motivated and curious PhD candidate with a strong interest in molecular muscle biology, who is eager to tackle fundamental biological questions using advanced experimental approaches.
  Required background and expertise:
• You hold a Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences, Bioscience Engineering, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Medicine, Sports Sciences or other field with a biomedical/biology focus 
• Interest in skeletal muscle physiology, with a focus on combining molecular laboratory techniques with bioinformatic data analysis. Proven ability to work accurately and independently in a laboratory environment. 
• Open to working and collaborating in multidisciplinary research environment and to travel and exchange with other (inter)national research institutes and present at international conferences 
• Experience with molecular biology methods (e.g. immunohistochemistry, transcriptomics, …). Highlight in CV what methods you have personal experience with and to what extent 
• Basic skills (R/Python) in (big) data analysis and advanced statistics are expected; experience with bioinformatics or image analysis is considered a strong asset. 
• Proficient in English 

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

• We offer a full-time position as a doctoral fellow, consisting of an initial period of 12 months, which – after a positive evaluation, will be extended to a total maximum of 48 months. There are also opportunities to apply for personal funding (fellowship) in the first or second year of the appointment. 
• You will be supervised by experienced investigators with a strong international track record in muscle biology research. The central and faculty PhD program at UGent provides structured doctoral training, including specialized courses, transferable skills workshops, and regular progress evaluations to support your scientific and professional development. 
• About 90% of the time is spent on scientific research. The GhentMuscleLab emphasizes team collaboration and you will operate in and contribute to larger research topics with several colleagues (doc and postdoc). You will get the chance to develop educational skills by contributing to classroom and one-on-one teaching in physiology and molecular biology topics for students in the Bachelor and Master in Movement and Sport Sciences. 
• The fellowship amount is 100% of the net salary of an AAP member in equal family circumstances. The individual fellowship amount is determined by Team Personnel Administration based on family status and seniority. A grant that meets the conditions and criteria of the regulations for doctoral fellowships is considered free of personal income tax. Click here for more information about our salary scales
• All Ghent University staff members enjoy a number of benefits, such as a wide range of training and education opportunities, 36 days of holiday leave (on an annual basis for a full-time job) supplemented by annual fixed bridge days, bicycle allowance and eco vouchers. Click here for a complete overview of all the staff benefits.
• The Ghent Muscle Lab, with its principal investigators Prof. Wim Derave & Prof. Eline Lievens, is part of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Ghent University (UGent), Belgium (https://www.ugent.be/ge/bsw/en/research/exercise). In our lab, we generate fundamental knowledge on the physiology and molecular biology of skeletal muscle function and we also translate these discoveries within the same research environment. This bench-to-application approach is relevant to metabolic health, exercise nutrition, and sports performance. We employ a large scale of methodological approaches, ranging from animal & human interventions (i.e. exercise training and muscle biopsy collection) to deep phenotyping of skeletal muscle samples with state-of-the-art molecular biology techniques. Typical for GhentMuscleLab is that we are an international team of researchers that work together on larger projects rather than in individual PhD-projects. 
• We are embedded in a vibrant and internationally recognized research ecosystem at Ghent University . UGent and its sport science department consistently rank among the world’s leading universities (https://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/grsssd/2025) and is renowned for its strong focus on fundamental and translational biomedical research. The university offers access to core facilities, including advanced imaging, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, and animal research platforms, ensuring optimal support for cutting-edge muscle biology research. 

INTERESTED?

Applicants should send their application (motivation letter + CV + study results + optional recommendation letter) to wim.derave@ugent.be. More information regarding the position and project can be obtained via email. After a pre-selection based on the CV and motivation letters, selected candidates will be invited to an interview (can be online for international applicants).