AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, the Austrian research institute with European format which focuses on the key infrastructure issues of the future, is looking to strengthen its team with the immediate appointment of a PhD Thesis “Development of viral and bacterial pathogen identification assays and antibiotic resistance testing for a point of care platform for respiratory tract infections and oral diseases”.

Point of care (POC) testing has the great advantage of rapid diagnostic results enabling immediate intervention and decentralized analysis at the general practitioner or at the dentist office. Those two scenarios will be addressed by the development of two diagnostic approaches: 1) identification and differentiation of pathogens (viruses and bacteria and their antibiotic resistances) causing respiratory tract infections, such as tonsillitis, pharyngitis, rhinitis, sinusistis using nasal swabs and 2) identification and differentiation of pathogens (bacteria) causing oral diseases such as caries and periodontitis using saliva.

For these two medical needs nucleic acid based (DNA and RNA) assays have to be developed, which are compatible with the integration into a microfluidic centrifugal POC platform. Assays have to be rapid to allow fast overall processing times without reducing sensitivity and specificity. For the POC platform the assays must be robust and reliable and all used reagents will be stored on the disposable cartridge in a stable form. After assay validation with clinical samples, the overall POC platform will be tested in a laboratory setting before it is rolled out to the field testing at physicians and dentists. The successful implementation of the device will bring improved diagnostics to the doctor’s office enabling rapid and targeted intervention.

Work description:

• Primer and probe design for bacteria and viruses
• Development of qPCR, microarray-based assays and novel analysis concepts compatible with on-chip processing and readout
• Establish stabilization concepts for storing assay reagents on chip/cartridge
• Data Analysis and application of bioinformatics software
• Transfer of assays onto microfluidic platform
• Validation of assays with clinical samples and assay performance in the microfluidic platform

Qualifications:

• Study of molecular biology, microbiology, genetics, biotechnology, biomedical engineering or any related field
• Knowledge in assay design and validation beneficial
• Motivation for assay integration into novel diagnostic devices and the design and development of novel nucleic acid based analysis methods

We are pleased to invite interested persons who wish to contribute their knowledge and their ideas to the field of applied research. Please submit your complete application by clicking the APPLY button, including application documents, certificates and a photo.

Kindly address it to:
Mrs. Maria Leonhard-Maurer, MSc
Head of Human Resources
2444 Seibersdorf
Tel.: +43(0) 50550 – 2032