Dear all,

I would like to draw your attention to BICEPS Marie Curie Sklodowska doctoral program, where we have 16 PhD positions across the following institutions across Europe:

German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Bayer metaSysX GmbH University of Groningen Aarhus University University of Athens University of Belgrade Anacalypsis Therapeutics Sulfateq B.V. H. Lundbeck A/S University of Oxford Suleyman Demirel University Semical Biosurgery

Several positions are focusing on bioinformatics and there are few also dealing with text. (e.g. Bayer one).

You can find positions here: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/search?f%5B0%5D=offer_type%3Ajob_offer&am...

Beyond neuroInflammation: new Concepts to Elucidate the peripheral immune system's vital role in Parkinson's disease

Decades of research into Parkinson's disease (PD) have fallen short in fully comprehending its mechanisms, leaving us without a cure. Current treatments merely alleviate symptoms temporarily, but are unable to impede the progression of the disease. Clearly, PD research has hit a wall, and new approaches are needed.

Recent discoveries of the involvement of the peripheral immune system in PD have sparked a groundbreaking proposition by BICEPS: PD must be considered a systemic disease with an immune response involving both brain and periphery. Thus, to revolutionize PD research, we must shift away from the neuro-centric approach of past decades and extend our focus to studying the immune system outside the brain. Furthermore, recent advancements, such as systems biology and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven data mining, diagnosis, and drug development, hold significant promise for advancing PD research. Therefore, BICEPS is uniting PD researchers, immunologists, and experts in AI and systems biology from leading European academic institutions, startup companies, and established pharmaceutical firms into a unique consortium. The primary objective is to train a new generation of PD researchers with interdisciplinary expertise in these fields.

This ambitious goal will be realized through an intensive training program that encompasses cutting-edge methodologies, encourages innovation, nurtures transferable skills, and provides immersive, hands-on research experiences. Thereby, the BICEPS network aims to shape the future of PD research by adopting a fresh perspective and expediting the development of diagnostics and therapies for PD, with a particular focus on the immune system.

Position in Bayer you can find here: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/286014

AI-driven data analysis, target identification and treatment development in PD

The project will be implemented at Bayer A.G. , under the supervision of Nikola Milošević.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, leading to motor symptoms such as tremors, rigidity, and bradykinesia. Recent research has highlighted the complex interplay between the nervous and immune systems in PD pathogenesis, emphasizing the need for integrated approaches to study neuro-immune interactions. This project aims to research best practices for, and develop novel collaborative no-code analytical platform specifically designed to explore and analyze neuro-immune interfaces in the context of PD and other neurodegenerative diseases. The research will first focus on full integration and making easily accessible evidence from both user-provided data and publicly available biomedical databases and literature sources, adhering to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles. This will be followed by the representation of data in a knowledge graph, enabling sophisticated reasoning and hypothesis generation. Finally, the project will establish explainable AI-powered analytics, reasoning, hypothesis generation, and ranking pipelines about targets, pathways, and potential treatments.

The platform will incorporate various data types, including genetic, biochemical, and clinical information, to provide a comprehensive view of the neuro-immune landscape in PD. By leveraging advanced machine learning techniques and natural language processing, the system will be able to analyze and integrate results from multiple experimental studies, literature sources, and other relevant data repositories. This multidisciplinary approach combines techniques from computer science, bioinformatics, and neuroscience to create a powerful tool for PD research.

Expected outcomes of this project include determining the precise best practices for multi-layered analysis of targets involved in neurodegenerative diseases and developing a system that can help scientists collaborate, review, analyze, and integrate results from diverse sources.

Ultimately, this work could lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets and potential treatments for PD by facilitating a deeper understanding of the complex neuro-immune interactions underlying the disease. The collaborative nature of the platform will foster interdisciplinary research and accelerate the pace of discovery in the field of neurodegenerative diseases.

Freundliche Grüße / Best regards,

Dr. Nikola Milosevic Senior Computational Scientist | Bayer Science Fellow //////////////////////// Bayer AG Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals R&D Data Sciences and AI, Scientific Insights Solutions Building S105, 342 13342 Berlin, Germany Tel: +49 30 46817948 Mobile: +49 174 2169881 E-mail: nikola.milosevic@bayer.commailto:nikola.milosevic@bayer.com Web: http://www.bayer.com Datenschutzhinweisehttps://www.bayer.de/de/datenschutzhinweise-fuer-ausgewaehlte-verarbeitungstaetigkeiten.aspx // Data privacy informationhttps://www.bayer.com/en/data-privacy-information-for-specific-processing-activities.aspx

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