Research internship neurology / neuropathology

As an Alzheimer Center, we are here for patients with any form of dementia or a suspicion thereof. We provide patients and their loved ones with clarity about their symptoms as quickly and thoroughly as possible and support them throughout the process. Additionally, we conduct important scientific research into various forms of dementia. Our research focuses on studying underlying disease mechanisms and rare genetic factors, as well as risk factors within the general population. We also conduct research to develop state-of-the-art diagnostic tools that can detect the disease at an early stage. Finally, we explore ways to improve care for people with dementia and their caregivers. As an officially recognized center of expertise for frontotemporal dementia (FTD), several of our research initiatives specifically focus on this form of dementia.

Name project: Neurodegeneration markers in brains of frontotemporal dementia

We are studying the expression of a neurodegenerative marker in different brain tissue regions postmortem and thereby trying to understand how the disease spreads across different brain regions. Our main focus is frontotemporal dementia, an early-onset dementia, but we also have brain tissue of patients who have had Alzheimer’s disease to make comparisons. We follow many patients with frontotemporal dementia in a longitudinal cohort and collect all kinds of data and tissue. This allows us to compare the findings on brain tissue level with clinical data.

As intern you will analyse the expression a neurodegenerative marker in different brain regions and correlate that to disease status and other neuropathological and clinical data.

For Dutch speaking interns: you are additionally responsible for including patients with dementia in the clinical research cohort of the Alzheimer Center, making
you part of our clinical team on outpatient clinic days.

For international interns: you additionally aid in regulating the dementia biobank.

You will learn about the disease frontotemporal dementia on a broad scale, from clinic to pathology, from bench to patient. You will learn how to evaluate brain tissue sections. You can learn staining of tissue. You can learn automatisation of image analysis. You can learn programming in R. You can develop academic skills such as literature retrieval, academic writing and presenting.
You will have two supervisors, a PhD student who will be your direct contact person and a neurologist who will maintain an overview of your progress on a (bi)weekly basis.

We are looking for a motivated student (bachelor/master) who would like to learn more about dementia and neuropathology, and is interested in doing histological image analysis. No experience in neuropathology, image analysis or programming is required, but could be beneficial. A background in biomedical studies, medicine or related fields is useful.

Period internship: 2025
Email address: a.rajicic@erasmusmc.nl
Contact person: Ana Rajicic
Documents: CV, brief motivational letter (max. 300 words)

Please mention the period in which you would like to do an internship, and the duration of the internship