Within the Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation research group KU Leuven, we are currently looking for a new PhD student for a project with focus on profiling abnormal joint loading in patients with either early post-traumatic or early non-traumatic knee osteoarthritis. The PhD student will conduct a longitudinal research project in a cohort of patients with early knee OA. This project is part of a close collaboration between the Departments of Rehabilitation Sciences, Movement Sciences, and Development & Regeneration and with UZ services Orthopedics and Rheumatology.

Project
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of disability and a source of high societal burden.Developing individualized strategies to prevent progression from the early stage on, is thus of utmost importance. One of the main risk factors for progression is believed to be repetitive (pathological) loading on the joint during everyday activities. However, the underlying mechanistic events and distinct loading profiles in early post-traumatic (PTOA) versus non-traumatic (NTOA) knee OA, as well as their changes over time still need to be explored. With state-of-the art methods, we will construct a comprehensive and longitudinal joint loading profile of early PTOA and NTOA patients and relate the cumulative exposure to this loading profile with structural and symptomatic changes over time. Furthermore, we will provide proof of concept for an individualized rehabilitation intervention with real-time feedback on knee loading. Ultimately this will allow us to optimize early OA management and reduce the progression towards end stage OA.


Profile
• You have a Master's degree in a field relevant to the subject (Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Movement Sciences or comparable).
• Students must have graduated on the final application date.
• You are interested in working with ACL patients, and you have good communication skills.
• You have a good knowledge of statistical models, can work analytically and independently.
• You are creative, like to take initiative and are team-oriented.
• You have good didactic and communication skills and you have the necessary sense of responsibility.
• You have distinguished yourself during your studies.
• You speak and write fluently in Dutch and English

If you do not speek Dutch at present, you should be willing to follow intensive courses, to reach Dutch level 4, to allow proper communication with the patients

Offer
The current position is offered for a term of 2 years and is renewable for 2 years upon positive evaluation of the candidate. This project is an innovative project on an international level, in close collaboration between the Departments of Rehabilitation Sciences, Movement Sciences, and Development & Regeneration and with UZ services Orthopedics and Rheumatology.

The start date is on October 1st, 2021

Interested?
For more information please contact Prof. dr. Sabine Verschueren, tel.: +32 16 32 90 70, mail: sabine.verschueren@kuleuven.be or Prof. dr. Jos Vanrenterghem, tel.: +32 16 37 37 00, mail: jos.vanrenterghem@kuleuven.be.
You can apply for this job no later than July 16, 2021 via the online application tool

KU Leuven seeks to foster an environment where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support, please contact us at diversiteit.HR@kuleuven.be.

Direct link to the vacancy: https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...?hl=en&lang=en