Postdoctoral Researcher in human unconventional T cell biology

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

The Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM) belongs to the Department of Medicine, Huddinge. Founded in 2002, CIM now represents an acknowledged center leading research on human immune system at international level. The research topics at CIM are particularly focused how different immune components participate to the response against infectious diseases and during chronic inflammatory conditions. Our ambition is to become one of the leading translational research centers within immunity, infectious diseases and immuno-oncology in Europe. The successful applicant will have a unique opportunity to work closely together with clinicians and experienced researchers in the fields of immunology, cancer and infection and contribute to high quality research in a supportive and creative environment.

Your mission

We have a long-standing interest in basic and clinically relevant aspects of unconventional T cells (UTC), such as mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells or ɣẟ T cells. The main task of the postdoctoral fellow will be expand the current knowledge on a novel subset of UTC known as CD4- CD8- ⍺β T (DNT⍺β) cells in humans, in the context of homeostasis and during inflammatory states. The successful applicant shall be driven by a strong ambition to independently develop and lead the project within the defined scientific area. The project success shall rely on solid theoretical bases on UTC immunology and on existing skills with several technological platforms, including high-dimensional flow cytometry, cell sorting and single cell transcriptomics.

Your profile

To be eligible for employment as a postdoctor a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed to be equivalent to a doctoral degree is required. This eligibility requirement must be fulfilled at the latest at the time of the employment decision. It is considered as an advantage if you have completed your doctoral degree within the last three years, if there are special reasons, your degree may have been completed earlier.

The applicant is expected to have a strong background on innate lymphocyte biology (e.g. development, trafficking and maturation) and innate mechanisms of anti-tumour immunity. Extensive experience with standard experimental procedures in immunology (e.g. cell culture, flow cytometry, functional assays, ELISA, etc) is required, and capacity to a documented experience with human sample collection, processing and analysis, the knowledge of chemically-induced or genetically-engineered preclinical models of carcinogenesis will be considered relevant in the application.

It is required from the applicant to possess:

• A strong background on innate T cell biology (e.g. development, trafficking and maturation).
• Documented knowledge of the tumor immunology field, and particularly in relation to innate and innate-like immune cells.
• Proficiency in fluorescence-activated cell sorting of immune cells.
• Competence in advanced multicolor flow cytometry (i.e. capacity to design complex panels, perform and interpret experiments).
• Proven skills in flow cytometry data generation and advanced analysis (e.g. normalization, dimensionality reduction, clustering).
• Advanced programming skills (using R and/or Python).
• Previous experience with human clinical samples, including tissue biobanking, immune cell extraction, clinical data interpretation.
• Excellent skills in written and spoken English.

It is particularly meritorious that the applicant:

• Performed a PhD focused on innate immune cells.
• Has a solid background in the field of T lymphocytes in anti-tumor immunity.
• Has graphical illustration skills of complex datasets, using R- or Python-based scripts Has extensive knowledge of basic lab techniques (e.g. T cell cultures, T cell stimulation, intracellular cytokine staining, ELISA, nucleic acid extraction, qPCR, etc).
• Experience with data analysis and bioinformatics is a requirement.
• Practical experience with immunofluorescence staining of patient material or similar material is desirable.
• Excellent communication and teamwork. 

What do we offer?

A creative and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading medical universities. At Karolinska Institutet, we conduct successful medical research and hold the largest range of medical education in Sweden. At KI, you get to meet researchers working with a wide range of specialisms and methods, giving you ample opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience with the various scientific fields within medicine and health. It is the crossover collaborations, which have pushed KI to where it is today, at the forefront of global research. Several of the people you meet in healthcare are educated at KI. A close relationship with the health care providers is important for creating groundbreaking top quality education and research. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several benefits through our collective agreement.

Location: Flemingsberg

Read more about the Ponzetta Team

Read more about the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM)

Application

An employment application must contain the following documents in English or Swedish:

• A complete resumé, including date of the thesis defence, title of the thesis, previous academic positions, academic title, current position, academic distinctions, and committee work
• A complete list of publications
• A summary of current work (no more than one page)

Welcome to apply at the latest 2023-09-29

The application is to be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system.

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