Postdoctoral Researcher in psychiatric genetics

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

David Mataix-Cols research group works to improve the lives of individuals with psychiatric conditions through understanding their genesis and developing treatments. Our work is collaborative and involves other investigators at the Karolinska Institutet (Drs. Christian Rück and John Wallert), as well as internationally (Dr. James Crowley from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA). Two major themes of our research are to understand the role genetics plays in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and in suicidal behaviours. These projects both include large-scale genomic studies aimed at identifying risk genes as well as genetic and environmental predictors of important clinical outcomes, such as treatment response and suicidal ideation, attempt and death. We integrate genomic data with detailed clinical phenotypes and rich longitudinal register data largely unique to the Nordic countries. Ultimately, we wish to develop more accurate prediction models for both the risk and consequences of psychiatric conditions. We work in an interdisciplinary and clinically integrated research environment at Karolinska Institutet where you have the possibility to contribute to quality research at an international top level.

Your mission

The overall aim of your postdoctoral studies is to seek to identify risk genes and genetic predictors for both treatment outcomes in OCD as well as suicidal behaviours in the general population. Critical data for your studies has already been generated.

For OCD, we have rich data on treatment response (both for psychotherapy and psychopharmaceuticals) in >3000 OCD patients who have already been genotyped on the Illumina Global Screening Array. Genetic data for >5000 matched controls are also available and thousands more OCD case and control DNA samples are in pre-processing. Furthermore, we are currently generating whole-exome sequence data for all samples to allow rare coding variation to be fully explored. In addition, detailed data has been collected at the phenotype level, which is linked to longitudinal register data from birth to multi-year follow-up after completed treatment.

For suicide, we are assembling multimodal data (including genetic and registry data) in a nationwide suicide cohort with the purpose of improving present prediction of suicide aiming to derive and validate better risk models for suicide in the total population. This project also provides the opportunity to apply both well-established statistical modelling and newer machine learning methodologies. As with the OCD study, this project presents an extraordinary opportunity to map the genetic architecture of an important psychiatric trait and uncover how the genome interacts with treatment and other environmental factors to influence health.

The main goal of your postdoc studies is therefore to use this unique linkage of multi-modal data to construct and validate prediction models for the risk of developing OCD and suicidal behaviours, how these individuals respond to treatment and what their long-term clinically relevant outcomes are. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues within KI, Sweden, other Nordic countries, and internationally.

Your profile

We are looking for a posdoc for a two year position.

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.

You are required to be experienced and hold a PhD in genetics, biostatistics or bioinformatics. The position requires that you are effective when you work in R, Python, Stata, SAS or similar statistical software. In addition to these requirements, it is of merit to have prior experience with registry-based research. This position will manipulate large genetic and phenotypic datasets, therefore experience with statistical software and experience using standard genomics packages are desired.

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 and Solna

Read more about David Mataix-Cols's research group here.

Read more about our collaborating research groups here and here.

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 2022-11-20.

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

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