Postdoctoral Researcher in chronic viral infection research related to therapy and cure - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Huddinge

The Division of Infectious Diseases, at the Department of Medicine Huddinge is involved in basic scientific, translational and clinical research with focus on infectious diseases. The department is one of the largest departments at Karolinska Institutet.

The division conducts preclinical and translational research is perform at laboratories located within the newly build facilities at Alfred Nobels Allé 8 (ANA8), Campus Flemingsberg. ANA Futura is a leading translational integrated research environment equipped for cutting-edge research, where the boundaries between research departments and clinics are torn down and researchers collaborate based on common research profiles. The announced position will be placed in Professor Anders Sönnerborgs research group, which has a strong focus on pathogenesis, treatment and cure of chronic viral infections. The experimental research is focused on i) HIV: antiretroviral therapy and mechanisms of viral latency; ii) HBV: mechanisms of viral latency and cure through novel approaches. Prof Sönnerborgs group is working very closely with research groups at Division of Clinical Microbiology and the day-to-day activities are often integrated. Also the translational research is a strong component with close ties to the Department of Infectious Diseases, Karolinska University Hospital which is the largest HIV clinic in Sweden, harbouring for around 3000 patients and the largest hepatitis clinic. Prof Sönnerborg is involved in several international collaborations. We publish 10-15 well cited (current h-index 60), articles per year in peer-reviewed journals.

Your mission

The applicant will be joining the research group of professor Sönnerborg and mainly work on two research areas: i) HIV latency, including its regulation, and drug resistance in patients with HIV infection using state of the art molecular biological tools, immunological tools and cultivation of HIV.   Also depending on the progress further development and evaluation of quantification of the latent HIV reservoir in different patient-categories, including HIV cure studies is planned; ii) HBV latency, its regulation and novel approaches to cure.

Your profile

Qualified to be employed as a postdoctor is one who has obtained a doctorate or has equivalent scientific competence. 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. Applicants who have not completed a doctorate at the end of the application period may also apply, provided that all requirements for a completed degree are met before the (intended) date of employment. This must be substantiated by the applicant's main supervisor, director or equivalent.

We are looking for a person with profound knowledge in medical biology with a focus on microbiology, especially virology, and in biotechnological techniques. Experience of studies on antiviral therapy of chronic viral infections as well as on viruses which cause latent infection is required with focus on pathogenesis, viral replication, resistance development, latency reactivation and on immunology, especially host antiviral immune responses.

The applicant should be able to work with various cell culture systems in order to assess phenotypes and functionality of cells. He/she should have experience in setting up viral assays to evaluate antiviral efficacy, viral fitness and host immune responses and in various cellular and molecular techniques that allow genetic modification of cells ranging from cloning, to transduction experiments.

Skills in the following techniques are mandatory:

i) cell culture systems; both cell lines, primary cells and co-cultures, immune cell isolation from peripheral blood, cellular functionality assays, transfections;

ii) flow cytometry analysis; discriminating immune cell subsets, cell surface and intracellular protein stainings, cell death assays;

iii) viral assays; lentiviral transductions, virus propagation, viral infectivity experiments;

iv) assays of antiviral efficiency;

v) other techniques; DNA/RNA isolation from tissues or cells, ELISA, immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitation, luciferase reporter assays, PCR, protein purifications, quantitative PCR, reverse transcriptase, SDS PAGE, western blotting

vi) RNA

vii) next generation sequencing and sequence analysis is an extra assett.

He/she shall also be responsible for certain laboratory duties common for several projects, including handling of patientmaterial such as PBMC isolation.

Excellent knowledge in English, written and spoken, is a requirement.

Personal qualities

The person should be well organized, service-oriented and flexible. A positive and collaborative attitude is a pre-requisite for working in the Sönnerborg group and a great emphasize is put on the collaborative attitude of the applicant. Thus, of importance is that the candidate is well aquainted with collaborative work in a dynamic environment which includes strong social skills.

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. Our vision is to pursue the development of knowledge about life and to promote a better health for all. 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. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several benefits through our collective agreement.

Location: Flemingsberg

Choose to work at KI – Ten reasons why

https://ki.se/en/medh/department-of-medicine-huddinge

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 23/6-22

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

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