PhD on diagnosis of sleep disorders with an innovative patch-based system

Introduction

Are you eager to work on signal processing and deep learning for medical applications? Are you fascinated about sleep? In this project TU/e works together with Sleep Center Kempenhaeghe and Onera health to improve sleep disorder diagnoses using a newly developed patch-based recording system.

Job Description

The current gold standard for the diagnosis of sleep disorders is a single-night in-hospital polysomnography (PSG). However, the PSG set-up including many wired sensors and the hospital environment may impact the sleep quality of the patient. On the other hand, monitoring solutions which can be used at home often have a limited number of sensors and lack the ability to detect more complex sleep disorders. Therefore, there is a need for technologies that allow PSG-recordings in the home environment, without compromising on signal availability and quality. Onera Health is a young Eindhoven based company, which has developed a unique PSG system based on patch technology for signal acquisition, which can be easily used in the home setting.

The research will focus on exploring the benefits of the Onera system and automated analyses of overnight data. You will work on the development of robust sleep staging methods that facilitate detection and monitoring of sleep disorders. Furthermore, you will leverage the rich (wearable) PSG data to gain more insight in the underlying mechanisms of complex sleep disorders.

Data to support the project have already been collected, including several datasets with side-by-side measures with gold standard PSG, as well as expert sleep annotations are available.

The envisioned research will not only aim at furthering the knowledge in sleep monitoring, but it is expected to make an impact in the clinic during the duration of the project. To this end, engineers, data scientist and clinicians will be part of the supervisory team and work closely with the student to support the development of new models and support the fast translation of the envisioned research to a clinical setting.

Job Requirements

• A master’s degree (or an equivalent university degree) in electrical engineering, biomedical engineering or computer science.
• A research-oriented attitude with a proactive mindset.
• Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team including clinical and industrial stakeholders.
• Motivated to develop your teaching skills and coach students.
• Fluent in spoken and written English (C1 level).
• Experience with machine learning and advanced data analytics
• Affinity with clinical research

Conditions of Employment

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you: 

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate assessment after nine months. You will spend a minimum of 10% of your four-year employment on teaching tasks, with a maximum of 15% per year of your employment. 
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. € 2,901 max. € 3,707).  
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%. 
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process. 
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.  
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs. 
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates. 

Information

Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please contact the hiring manager, dr. Merel van Gilst, m.m.v.gilst@tue.nl.

Visit our website for more information about the application process or the conditions of employment. You can also contact HRServices.flux@tue.nl.

Are you inspired and would like to know more about working at TU/e? Please visit our career page.

Application

We invite you to submit a complete application by using the apply button. The application should include a:

• Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
• Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references.

We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.