Postdoctoral researcher in Identification of Autoantigens as Diagnostic Targets for the Development of Lipid Nanoparticle Therapeutics

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

The Department of Laboratory Medicine consists of seven divisions and is active in many areas of Laboratory Medicine. The department is involved in advanced basic scientific, clinical and epidemiological research. The department is one of the largest departments of education at Karolinska Institutet.

The Division of Biomolecular and Cellular Medicine (BCM) focus on the application of modified biomolecules, cells and cell products as novel therapy agents as well as the identification and study of appropriate biomolecular and cellular targets for therapy and diagnosis.

Our research efforts in the EL Andaloussi´s lab focus on one of the greatest challenges facing modern therapeutics; the delivery of macromolecules to target cells in vivo. Despite the unprecedented knowledge of diseases and their mechanisms due to advances in biomedical sciences; many promising therapeutic approaches are still clinically unavailable. This is simply because there is no efficient means of delivering these therapeutics to the right organ with the right dose. Our research performance involves developing novel and innovative drug delivery technologies that can carry proteins, RNAs, or gene therapies to the target tissues safely and efficiently. Thus, we engineer exosomes with enhanced delivery and targeting capacities and screen our wide array of exosome designs in disease-relevant cellular and animal models. However, in order to effectively guide our drug delivery systems to target cells, diagnostic biomarkers must also be identified. Thus, we are also developing effective methods of EV isolation from fresh and cryopreserved biofluid samples for the identification of diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets of various cancers and diseases. Thus, our research platform offers a unique opportunity for target discovery, manufacturing and delivery of advanced therapeutics.

Your mission

As a Postdoctoral Researcher you will work on the identification of protein and RNA markers for the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers. These targets will then be used for the development of a delivery system to target diseased cells in vivo. Most of the research will be conducted utilizing proteomic and sequencing-based techniques. The first part of the work will involve isolating EVs from patient biofluids, from which therapeutic targets will be identified. Following validation of these targets, a drug delivery system utilizing lipid nanoparticles targeted to the previously identified extracellular proteins will be developed. Successful candidate constructs will later be developed to target disease relevant targets in vivo.

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 should have a solid background in cancer biology and immunology. The position requires practical lab experience in the following areas; foremost, extensive knowledge and experience with proteomic techniques, such as mass spectrometry, and the programming languages (e.g., R/python) necessary to work with such data sets. Secondly, experience with immunoprecipitation techniques, flow cytometric analysis and working with rodents. Finally, the ideal candidate would also have experience applying the specific techniques proposed here within the EV field. Excellent proficiency in both spoken and written English is important.

We are looking for an energetic and passionate person who fits in, and actively contributes to our team. In this reqruitment we place high importance on personal characteristics

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 about The Division of Biomulecular and Cellular Medicine (BCM)
Read about Samir EL Andaloussi Research Group

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 17 mars.

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

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