Research Specialist for translational research in vascular disease

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

We are looking for a highly motivated person that should be dedicated to full time research, have the potential to work both independently and within a translational team, and manage the close collaboration between our research group, the international collaborators, as well as the clinic. The daily work is office based and situated in modern BioClinicum facilites at KI.

Those eligible for employment as a Research Specialist are those who have a doctoral degree and have documented research experience after the defense of the PhD thesis. A research specialist's duties include participating in research activities.

Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery

The Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery (MMK) carries out both preclinical and clinical research within numerous fields. Linked to the Department are approximately 450 researchers, postgraduate students, teachers and technical and administrative staff and we currently have about 150 PhD students. The Department is conducting undergraduate courses for medical, biomedical and biomedical laboratory students.

Description of the research group and the subject area 

The prospective research specialist will be recruited to the Team Translational Vascular Medicine led by Assoc Prof Ljubica Matic, MSc, PhD. This Team is integrated within the large Vascular Surgery research group, at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery (MMK), KI, which is dedicated to translational and clinical research on vascular diseases and pathological vascular conditions in general. The Team Translational Vascular Medicine is specialized in molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying atherosclerosis and vascular injury. This Team is situated at the BioClinicum building, it belongs also to the Center for Molecular Medicine at KI and gathers several other PhD students, postdocs and research specialists.

The vascular diseases and conditions addressed in our broader research context are atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysms, peripheral arterial disease as well as restenosis after vascular interventions. Altogether these conditions contribute to the high overall cardiovascular mortality, dominated by complications of atherosclerosis such as myocardial infarction or stroke. To better understand the development and progression of vascular disease, over the past decades we have, together with the Vascular Surgery Clinic, Karolinska Hospital, assembled several large biobanks of human and murine vascular tissues (i.e. BiKE-Biobank of Karolinska Endarterectomies; BiRCA-Biobank of Rat Carotid Artery injury, etc.). Our platform enables large-scale multi-variate and multi-modal analyses of gene, protein and metabolite expression from vascular lesions and blood, combined with genetic, clinical/epidemiological and imaging parameters from patients. We also perform in depth functional and mechanistic studies in animal and cell culture models of vascular injury and disease, where we evaluate the novel targets identified from human biobanks as potential biomarkers or therapies in vascular disease.

Your mission

The overall goal of our Team is to develop 1) modern prediction models for assessing personalized risk for adverse outcomes in patients with vascular disease, as well as 2) novel, therapeutic targets to ameliorate the complications of late-stage atherosclerosis and restenosis. To this end, we utilize state-of-the-art laboratory resources and some of the world’s largest human vascular biobanks established under the umbrella of Vascular Surgery over the past 20 years. The biobanks encompass access to biomaterial (blood and vascular tissues), extensive omics data, diagnostic images and clinical/epidemiological data from patients, including long-term follow up for adverse events. The group also runs a fully developed cell and molecular biology experimental platform, histology core facility, and an established animal platform with all typical murine models of vascular disease. The group conducts phenotyping of relevant mouse knockouts, challenge models and interventional models for testing the novel druggable targets.

Our whole research platform is directed towards translational investigations and opening new opportunities for improved treatment and risk stratification of patients with cardiovascular disease. We offer a position in one of the leading groups in the field of vascular disease with an excellent network of international and industrial collaborators, and longstanding experience in translational science. The project will be conducted in a multidisciplinary environment at the interface between academia, clinic, pharma industry, where resources and expertise in human biobanking, omics data, imaging, animal surgery, in vitro and molecular biology methods will be available.

The selected person will be expected to plan and lead research projects independently and within the team, present at congresses, and participate in national/international collaboration networks. 

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible for employment as a Research Specialist, in addition to holding a Degree of Doctor, PhD, or having a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a Swedish doctoral degree, the applicant must have demonstrated research expertise as well as have documented research experience after defending their doctoral dissertation.

Fluency in English is a requirement.

Assessment criteria

The suitable candidate should have a strong track record in the complex pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases. The candidate is expected to have both theoretical and empirical background within molecular/cell biology, pharmacology, biomedicine or molecular medicine disciplines. 

Expertise in bioinformatics and omics data analyses, as well as animal models of vascular disease will be considered meritorious.

Willingness to work flexibly in order to achieve project demands and targets is necessary. Being able to organise and prioritise own work, as well as to organise research within the project timetables and planned deliverables will be essential. Travel abroad for conducting research visits abroad will exist.

Maintaining accurate and up to date electronic records for projects is necessary.

Excellent social, interpersonal, organisational and analytical skills are essential.

Ability to travel to other countries is essential and possibilities will exist for conducting research visits abroad.

Ability and willingness to undertake teaching and pedagogical activities will be specifically assessed and considered mandatory.

Ability to conduct administrative tasks efficiently will be considered.

Knowledge of Swedish will be considered an advantage. 

After an overall assessment of the expertise and merits of the applicants in relation to the subject area, Karolinska Institutet will determine which of them has the best potential to contribute to a positive development of the activities at KI.

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. Here, 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: Solna

Read more about our research and group:

https://ki.se/en/people/ljubica-matic
https://www.ljubicamaticgroup-translationalvascularmedicine.eu
https://ki.se/en/research/research-areas-centres-and-networks/research-groups/vascular-surgery-ulf-hedins-research-group#tab-start

Application

We prefer that Your application is written in English, but You can also apply in Swedish. An application must contain the following documents:  PhD certificate, resumé, qualifications and description of planned research, presented in accordance with Karolinska Institutet's qualifications portfolio.

Welcome to apply at the latest 2025-02-24.

The application must 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!