Postdoc about biological extended models for radiotherapy side effects - Under tillsättning eller tillsatt, ej sökbar

Our benefits

• The TETRIS consortium includes multiple hospitals and companies across Europe, leading to a stimulating and multifaceted research collaboration.
• Opportunity to contribute to a high-profile, EU-funded, international research project
• Friendly, multicultural and multidisciplinary research environment integrated in a large, well-organised, radiotherapy clinic

About us

The TETRIS project (Risk assessment tools for severe side Effects after Breast Radiotherapy: radiation safety through biological extended models and Digital Twins) is a cutting-edge European research initiative funded under the HORIZON-EURATOM-2023-NRT-01-10 program. The project aims to develop and test quantitative, personalized risk scores for radiotherapy-induced side effects. These scores are based on dose-response relationships published in the literature and further refined by integrating patient-specific data, including imaging, genetics, and transcriptomics.

TETRIS also seeks to explore the potential of using digital twins (DTs) in radiotherapy safety. By leveraging data from historical patient cohorts, the project will create prototype DTs and evaluate the benefits of this approach compared to traditional model-based risk scores. A prospective collection of detailed patient data will enable the refinement of DTs, offering both a deeper understanding of individual patients and broader insights into follow-up care. The refined DTs could drive future investments in data collection and computational infrastructure for radioprotection.

Joining TETRIS provides an exciting opportunity to be part of a dynamic and interdisciplinary consortium with a strong track record of collaboration.

The Radiotherapy Physics department at Karolinska University Hospital includes over 40 medical physicists and engineers, integrated in a state-of-the art Radiotherapy department, a part of Karolinska Comprehensive Cancer Center. Associate professor, E. Onjukka, is coordinator of R&D and supervises multiple PhD students at Karolinska Institutet. The central theme of her research is normal-tissue complication probability modelling, using clinically relevant datasets and advanced analysis methods. The current position is in work package 2 which is led by E. Onjukka. It focuses on the retrospective analysis of several thousand breast cancer patients previously treated with radiotherapy.

Your role and responsibilities

You will be employed by the Section of Radiotherapy Physics and Engineering at Karolinska University Hospital, in Stockholm, Sweden. You will be responsible for testing models predicting the risk of severe side effects, and extending these to include imaging biomarkers and genomic information for a prospective cohort. Specific tasks include:

• Collaborate with the local and international team
• Organise your work to achieve set goals
• Code the implementation of established models for large datasets
• Extend models to include novel predictors
• Manage and analyse data
• Apply for data from a national registry
• Publish results in scientific journals and present at international conference

Required skills

• Technical computing: proficient in at least one programming language (e.g. python, R or Matlab)
• Experience of using medical predictive models, preferably in Radiotherapy
• Communicate effectively in a multidisciplinary setting
• Good written and spoken English
• Proactive and well organised

Education

A completed PhD and an MSc in Medical Physics, Data Science or related disciplines.

The following are considered a plus

• Good written and spoken Swedish or other Scandinavian language
• International research experience
• Background in Radiotherapy Physics
• Experience from similar research projects

Who we need

A clinical scientist who is enthusiastic about solving problems and analysing data, to discover how to improve future practice in health care. You will thrive on self-directed work in collaboration with the team.

Contract

Two-year fixed-term contract, starting in April 2025