About this role
PhD Candidate Towards a tiered risk assessment strategy to evaluate the safety of herbal supplements Welcome to Maastricht University! Would you like to help detect health risks in herbal food supplements earlier, using data-driven approaches? Herbal supplements are often considered safe because they are natural. But how well do we actually understand their potential health effects? In this PhD project, you will develop a testing strategy to identify possible hazards earlier and contribute to safer use of herbal supplements. PhD Candidate: Towards a tiered risk assessment strategy to evaluate the safety of herbal supplements Herbal food supplements are widely used and often perceived as inherently safe because they are 'natural'. Yet these products can contain complex mixtures of bioactive compounds, and their composition may vary depending on the plant material, extraction method and production process. Contamination, adulteration and differences between batches add further uncertainty. Because these products are generally not tested before entering the market, potential adverse effects may only become apparent once they are already widely used. That is why a robust and structured strategy is needed to better evaluate the safety of herbal supplements and reduce potential risks to human health. In this collaborative project, you will investigate the hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, genotoxicity and endocrine-disrupting potential of diverse herbal extracts using human-relevant in vitro models and complementary bioassays. You will also examine how liver metabolism influences their toxicity. For selected extracts, you will use chemical analyses such as LC-MS/MS and GC-MS to help identify the compounds responsible for the observed effects. The complementary PhD project at Utrecht University will investigate other potential adverse health effects, including neurotoxicity, cardiotoxicity and effects on the blood-brain barrier. This po...