Research Assistant

The Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics conducts research in epidemiology and biostatistics across a broad range of areas within biomedical science. The department is among the largest of its type in Europe and has especially strong research profiles in psychiatric, cancer, reproductive, pediatric, pharmaco, genetic, and geriatric epidemiology, eating disorders, precision medicine, and biostatistics.

Part of the success of our department is due to our collaborative spirit where one factor is that researchers at the Department share and co-finance common resources (e.g., IT and an applied biostatistics group). The department is situated at campus Solna. Further information can be found at http://ki.se/en/meb

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

The biostatistics group comprises about 35 members, including 4 professors, 3 university lecturers, applied biostatistics, postdocs and doctoral students. The group is involved in a large number of research projects, including population-based cohort and case-control studies, twin and family studies, survival analyzes, predictive modeling, genetic epidemiology and bioinformatics.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is used to screen for prostate cancer but suffers from a high false- positive rate (poor specificity) that translates into unnecessary prostate biopsies and over-diagnosis of low-risk prostate cancers. The STHLM3 study aimed to develop a model for prostate cancer screening with better test characteristics than PSA.

STHLM3 is a prospective, population-based, paired screen-positive diagnostic study including 58,818 men without prostate cancer aged 50-69 living in Stockholm 2012-2014. It investigates whether the predefined STHLM3 Model, a combination of plasma protein biomarkers, genetic polymorphisms and clinical variables, can substantially reduce the proportion of men biopsied whilst maintaining the same sensitivity to diagnose Gleason Score 7 prostate cancer as PSA 3 ng/ml. Using the same sensitivity as PSA 3 to diagnose Gleason Score 7 prostate cancer, the STHLM3 Model reduced the number of biopsies by 32% and avoided 44% of the negative biopsies.

The STHLM3 Model reduces unnecessary biopsies without compromising the ability to diagnose Gleason Score 7 prostate cancer, and is a significant step towards personalized risk-based prostate cancer diagnostic programs. This is a position of 4 months with possibility of extension.

Your mission

Postgraduate education provides the opportunity to work with the development of statistical methods for predicting cancer. The methods will be used to predict current and future risk of cancer and prognosis after diagnosis of the disease using data from population-based registries, epidemiological studies and clinical trials. All methods will be implemented in the statistical program R or Python.

This temporary research assistant position is anchored in the STHLM3 study, with the aim of conducting follow-up analyses to the STHLM3 study.

Your profile

Applicants must have a master's degree in applied mathematics and statistics, and background in computational mathematics is a merit. Experience from applied mathematics and data analysis projects in several countries is a merit, as well as knowledge of the development and use of artificial intelligence methods in medicine. Applicants are needed to have hands-on experience working with raw big database and data processing and analyzing using statistical and machine learning methods. At the same time, they should have prominent ability to visualize the research results, give feedback and communicate with other researchers. Knowledge of Bayesian statistical methods, modelling complex systems and time series is also a strong merit, as is knowledge about the following programming languages: R, Python, and Matlab.

The applicant must be able to work well in a team, and be able to work independently. Good command of the English language (both spoken and written) is necessary, preferably proven by a TOEFL test result.

What do we offer?

A creative and inspiring environment full of expertise and curiosity. 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. Karolinska Institutet is a state university, which entitles to several benefits such as extended holiday and generous occupational pension. Employees also have access to our modern gym for free and receive reimbursements for medical care.

Location: Solna

Application

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

Permanent position is initiated by a six months trial period.

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