PhD Candidate in Exercise and Brain Health – The MolEx Studies

Ntnu; Trondheim; On-site; NOK 420,000 - 540,000; Full time

Job summary

NTNU invites applications for a PhD Candidate in Exercise and Brain Health – The MolEx Studies. The position is a fixed-term, full-time 3-year PhD candidate role under the Cardiac Exercise Research Group (CERG) at the Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Trondheim.

The project investigates molecular effects of exercise on the brain and Alzheimer’s disease risk, with state-of-the-art omics analyses.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in exercise physiology, human physiology, molecular biology, biomedicine, neuroscience, medicine, medical technology, or related field.
• Strong academic background with a high average grade.

Responsibilities

• Take active role in MolEx studies across all three populations and develop your sub-projects.
• Lead sub-projects within each study and shape your doctoral thesis with supervisor input.
• Participate in data collection, including exercise testing, cognitive testing, and blood sampling logistics.
• Analyze and interpret large-scale molecular data with bioinformatics and statistics collaborators.
• Publish results in international journals and present at conferences.
• Write and publicly defend your doctoral thesis.
• Complete the mandatory PhD programme at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU.

Education

Master's degree in exercise physiology/human physiology/biomedicine/neuroscience/medicine/medical technology or related field

Job description

The Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging has a vacancy for a PhD Candidate in Exercise and Brain Health – The MolEx Studies

PhD Candidate in Exercise and Brain Health – The MolEx Studies

NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focusin professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim.

At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

About the position

Do you want to help uncover the molecular secrets of exercise – and how they may protect the brain against Alzheimer’s disease? We have a vacancy for a PhD candidate at the Cardiac Exercise Research Group (CERG; ntnu.edu/cerg ), Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging (ISB), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU. CERG is a world-leading research group in exercise in medicine, with state-of-the-art laboratories and infrastructure for clinical and experimental research, located at St. Olavs University Hospital in Trondheim.

This is a fixed-term, full-time (100%) position for 3 years. For a position as a PhD candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree. The main supervisor will be Professor Ulrik Wisløff (NTNU). Professor Dorthe Stensvold (NTNU) and Postdoctor Atefe R. Tari (NTNU) will serve as co-supervisors. Your immediate leader will be the Head of Department.

About the project

The doctoral work is part of the MolEx research programme (“MOLecular secrets of EXercise”), which investigates the acute and long-term effects of exercise on the molecular composition of human blood – and how exercise-induced circulating molecules (“exerkines”) may mediate beneficial effects on the brain and possibly protect against Alzheimer’s disease.

Physical activity and high cardiorespiratory fitness are among the most promising preventive strategies against Alzheimer’s disease, but the underlying biological mechanisms in humans remain poorly understood. Our group has shown that plasma from exercise-trained donors can counteract Alzheimer-related pathology in experimental models, and we lead clinical trials testing exercise and “exercised plasma” as treatment strategies (e.g., the ExPlas Study). MolEx takes the crucial next step: mapping, in humans, the temporal dynamics and molecular signatures of exercise responses in blood.

MolEx consists of three coordinated randomized clinical studies applying the same core protocol in three populations: healthy younger adults, healthy older adults, and individuals in the early phase of Alzheimer’s disease. In each study, participants perform single sessions (acute) and a period (chronic) of high-intensity interval training or moderate-intensity continuous training, with blood sampling at repeated timepoints before and up to 48 hours after exercise, combined with comprehensive assessments of cardiorespiratory fitness, cognitive function, and body composition. Blood samples are analysed with state-of-the-art multi-omics technologies, including mass spectrometry-based proteomics quantifying approximately 11,000 proteins per project, as well as metabolomics, small non-coding RNAs, and blood-based Alzheimer biomarkers.

The PhD candidate will take an active role in all three studies and will develop and lead own sub-projects within each of them, in close collaboration with the supervisor team. The specific research questions of the three papers that will constitute the doctoral thesis will be defined together with the candidate during the first phase of the position, allowing the thesis to be shaped by the candidate’s own ideas, the emerging data, and the most promising scientific leads.

Duties of the position

• Take an active role in the ongoing and planned MolEx studies in healthy younger adults, healthy older adults, and individuals with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease
• Develop and lead own sub-projects within each of the three studies, which together will form the basis of the doctoral thesis
• Participate in data collection, including supervised exercise training and testing (e.g., cardiopulmonary exercise testing), cognitive testing, and blood sampling logistics
• Analyse and interpret large-scale molecular data (approximately 11,000 proteins per project) in collaboration with our bioinformatics and statistics collaborators
• Publish results in international peer-reviewed journals and present at national and international conferences
• Write a doctoral thesis and publicly defend it
• Complete the mandatory PhD programme at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU

Be prepared for changes to your work duties after employment.

Required selection criteria

• A completed master’s degree (equivalent to a minimum of 120 ECTS credits) in exercise physiology, human physiology, molecular biology, biomedicine, neuroscience, medicine, medical technology, or a related field
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies, with an average grade from the