Assistant Professor in Genetic Precision Diagnostics

Join a global community of excellence

Are you a bold, creative researcher ready to shape the future of medical science? Karolinska Institutet (KI), one of the world’s foremost medical universities, is launching a major recruitment initiative in 2025. KI is seeking 20 outstanding early- career researchers to join us as Assistant Professors in a wide range of subject areas.

At KI, we foster a vibrant, international research environment where curiosity, innovation, and excellence thrive. We are looking for inspiring, driven, and visionary scientists with exceptional research achievements and the potential to become future leaders in their fields.   

Do you want to contribute to top-quality medical research? Are you passionate about advancing genetic and genomic diagnostics, and eager to conduct cutting-edge research in precision medicine? Join us at Karolinska Institutet (KI) and the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, where clinical and translational genetics research are closely integrated to improve patient care. MMK conducts both preclinical and clinical research across a wide range of medical fields, including clinical genetics and genomics.

What do we offer?

If you meet our requirements and propose a groundbreaking research project, we are prepared to employ you as an Assistant Professor for six years and support you with a generous funding package of SEK 6 million FN funding and 3 million Department funding. In summary 9 million to cover your salary and other research costs. KI offers the opportunity to be promoted from a time-limited (six-year) position as Assistant Professor to permanent employment as Senior Lecturer. You can read more about it here.

At KI, you’ll be part of an interdisciplinary research community. Our researchers work across a wide range of fields and methodologies within medicine and health, creating rich opportunities for knowledge exchange and cross-disciplinary collaboration. You’ll also benefit from close connections with healthcare providers, ensuring your research remains closely aligned with real-world clinical practice.

As a state university, KI offers a comprehensive benefits package governed by collective agreements. These include annual salary reviews, supplementary insurance, and opportunities to participate in institutional decision-making.

We also understand that a successful research career is supported by a strong personal foundation. That’s why we are committed to supporting not only our researchers but also their partners and families, recognising the vital role they play in your life and well-being.

Learn more about what KI and Sweden can offer, and the different calls!

Location: Solna

Description of the subject area 

Genetic precision diagnostics aims to improve the diagnosis, understanding, and treatment of inherited and acquired genetic diseases, including rare diseases and cancer, through individualized, data-driven approaches. By combining advanced genomic technologies with clinical insights, the research enables earlier and more accurate diagnostics, while offering new understanding how genome architecture influences the location and formation of disease-causing variants. Emerging technologies, such as long-read sequencing and 3D genome analysis, in combination with multi-modal analyses, are driving major advances in the field.

We offer an exceptionally strong research environment characterized by close collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and core facilities, enabling translational research with direct impact on patient care. Genomic Medicine Center Karolinska (GMCK), a formal collaboration between Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, and SciLifeLab, plays a central role in integrating genomics-based technologies into routine clinical care.

With over a decade of experience in clinically integrated genomics, GMCK is also recognized a national leader in the implementation of precision diagnostics. The genomics community in Stockholm bridges healthcare and academia, facilitating the rapid development and clinical adoption of advanced technologies. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is routinely used in diagnostics across multiple departments at Karolinska University Hospital, with over 25,000 clinical genomes analyzed.

You will join a vibrant and expanding precision medicine ecosystem with tight links to Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS), Precision Medicine Center Karolinska, SciLifeLab, and international consortia. The environment supports interdisciplinary, clinically oriented, and data-driven research, spanning genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, and AI-enhanced analytics, to improve diagnostics, prognosis, and treatment.

Your mission 

This Assistant Professor position offers a unique opportunity to build a strong academic profile—primarily by developing your independence as a researcher, while also gaining valuable teaching and pedagogical experience.

Your primary responsibility is to conduct high-quality, independent research in genetic precision diagnostics. You are expected to develop a competitive research program, secure external research funding, and actively contribute to education at the undergraduate and doctoral levels. You will supervise PhD students and postdocs and are expected to collaborate nationally and internationally. This position is a career-development position aimed at facilitating academic advancement and promotion to senior lecturer within the employment period.

Eligibility requirements 

To be eligible for an appointment as Assistant Professor, you must demonstrate good scientific skills according to KI’s eligibility criteria as follows:

• A PhD (or equivalent degree) in a relevant subject area
• At least two peer-reviewed original scientific publications as first or last author, in addition to the doctoral thesis

Priority is given to those who were awarded a PhD (or attained equivalent competence) no more than seven years prior to the expiry of the deadline for the application.

Those who have been awarded a doctoral degree or attained equivalent research competence earlier will also be considered if there are special circumstances for absence from research (deductible time), such as: parental leave, long-term illness, positions of trust in trade union organizations or mandatory service in total defence.

The circumstances, dates and extent must be clearly specified in the application and verified by relevant documentation.

For this call, exceptions are made from all pedagogical requirements specified in the instructions regarding the Appointment procedure for teachers at KI. However, you must complete three weeks of higher education pedagogical courses in accordance with the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions’ recommendations, no later than two years after starting your employment as an Assistant Professor (unless you can certify that you have completed equivalent training before starting the position).

Candidates will be evaluated based on both scientific and pedagogical qualifications, with greater emphasis placed on scientific excellence. The full set of assessment criteria is outlined in the  instructions regarding the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at KI.

Particularly meritorious is:

• the scientific quality, originality, and feasibility of your research plan within the relevant subject area
• documented experience in research environments outside KI, with special consideration given to international research experience

These criteria reflect our commitment to fostering globally competitive researchers who contribute to high-impact science and academic excellence.

It is further meritorious that you have demonstrated 

•  Experience in the development and application of advanced genomic methods, including handling of large-scale research data and computationally intensive analyses;
•  Expertise in research on the disease-associated human genome, with a focus on variant interpretation, genome architecture, and underlying disease mechanisms;
•  Experience integrating bioinformatics and AI-based approaches for data analysis and clinical translation;
• Demonstrated ability to lead or supervise in computational or interdisciplinary research settings.
• It is also meritorious to have a collaborative approach to translational research involving clinical partners and technology platforms

The criteria listed will form part of the overall assessment of the applicant. All criteria will be assessed but they should not individually be seen as requirements.

Offers will be extended to the best candidate based on an overall assessment of the applicant’s expertise and merits in relation to the subject area.

Application guidelines

All applicants are expected to follow the application instructions carefully. Failure to comply with the guidelines or misrepresentation of qualifications may negatively impact on the evaluation of your application.

The application should consist of the following documents, written in English:

• A personal letter (maximum 1 page)
• Application form, including your research project (the form can be found here)
• Up to ten published papers and optionally one manuscript, in PDF format
• PhD certificate
• If you have a PhD that is older than seven years and want to claim deductible time, you must attach a certificate of deductible time in Swedish or English.

Welcome to apply no later than September 2nd, 2025 (time 23.59 CEST).

For more information about the calls, conditions regarding funding and employment, see here.

Want to make a difference? Join us and contribute to better health for all!