Human Nutrition unit                                                                  Dr. Sergio Polakof
INRAE, Clermont-Ferrand                                                           33 (0)4 73 62 48 95
France                                                                                          sergio.polakof@inrae.fr
https://www6.clermont.inrae.fr/unh_eng/Teams/IMPROVING
Starting date: Spring 2021.
Funding: iSITE International, MetaMob project.

Scientific project:

In the context of frailty during aging, the scientific project of the post doc is, from a cohort of 500 older adults who have been hospitalized at Charité Berlin:

1. To stratify the subjects according to the main determinants of the frailty syndrome, which are body composition, mobility and nutritional status and this at the admission in the geriatric service. Other parameters have also been measured (deep phenotyping) and could be included into the clustering of the cohort if relevant. 
2. To assess the modification of the parameters evaluated in the first clustering (at admission) after the hospital stay (around 3-4 weeks). The subjects will be stratified again, and their phenotype evolution followed and linked the interventional strategy put in place during the hospitalization stay (i.e. nutrition or mobility interventions). This will allow to assess the improvement or decline in the different phenotype of frailty and also allow to identify the volunteers for whose the intervention has been successful or not i.e the non-responders identification.
3.  To follow the trajectory of the volunteers 3- and 6-months post discharge. A statistical analysis will be performed to parallel the identified clusters of frailty or their evolution to the “future” status of the volunteers i.e still at home, hospitalized, in institution or deceased.
4. To apply the same approach to the “metabolomics data” of each volunteer in order to evidence 1) specific signature or biomarkers which cluster the volunteers according to the determinants of frailty chosen, 2) the evolution of these parameters over the hospitalization stay i.e biomarkers of responders or non-responders to a nutritional or another intervention, and finally 3)  predictive biomarkers of health trajectory after discharge.

The aim is to obtain a metabolomics-based signature able to identify at discharge, those metabotypes potentially responsive to future (at home) nutritional and/or physical activity interventions. This tool would provide a more accurate and fast diagnosis, improving the identification of the patient needs and enabling a more personalized care pathway during the hospital stay and after discharge.

Keywords: elderly, metabolomics biomarkers, nutritional status, mobility, frailty

Location:

The fellow will be recruited by the Université Clermont Auvergne/INRAE (France) but will be required to carry out first his/her research work at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin under the supervision of Pr. K. Norman ( PhD, Charité Berlin and DIfE Postdam) and then, at the INRAE Research Centre in France. In Germany, a clustering of the geriatric patients of the Wonder cohort (n=500) will be made and in France, the metabolomics analyses will be carried out with the management, interpretation and modeling of the big data generated.

Salary:   2 100-2 400€ net of charge per month depending on the years of expertise after the PhD.

Duration: 18 months

Expertise/Background requested: The candidate must have training and skills focused on (bio)statistics (univariate, multivariate, clustering, predictive models) “omics” data analysis and treatment. Additional skills would be appreciated particularly in clinical studies, epidemiology, metabolism or nutrition. The training of various skills (biochemistry, nutrition) within a transdisciplinary project supervised by several specialists should be a central motivation of the candidate. Fluency in English is required.