Postdoctoral Researcher for computational pathology

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

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

The research group is affiliated with the national Data Driven Life Sciences (DDLS) program and SciLifeLab (https://www.scilifelab.se/researchers/kimmo-kartasalo/). We conduct international cutting-edge research in computational pathology and artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically, the group has for several years worked with AI-based models to assist pathologists in their assessment of prostate biopsies.

Your mission

AI and machine learning (ML) provide new opportunities for precision medicine, where data-driven approaches are applied for improved diagnostics, prognostication and treatment decisions. We apply the latest AI techniques to the analysis of digital pathology data with the aim of improving the efficiency, accuracy and reproducibility of pathological assessments.

You will drive projects analyzing the performance of both in-house developed state-of-the-art AI models and publicly available foundation models in prostate cancer diagnosis, grading and prognostication across diverse patient populations and digital pathology platforms. You are expected to leverage your deep expertise in state-of-the-art AI and image analysis methodology to understand and solve challenges related to the translation of AI prototypes into reliable and scalable algorithms fit for real-life clinical environments.

The role of the postdoctoral researcher involves taking an active role in driving your own research projects, developing the research group’s practices, and supporting doctoral students and junior group members.

This is a two-year position with possibility of extension.

Your profile

The applicant is expected to possess the following skills and experience:

• Doctoral education in computational pathology, medical image analysis or related fields.
• A deep understanding of ML/AI, including hands-on development of deep learning models for data-intensive applications in PyTorch.
• Experience of working with biological or medical applications.
• Strong skills in high-performance parallel AI computing on clusters, supercomputers and/or cloud platforms.
• Good programming skills in Python, demonstrable in the form of open source projects or other other output from earlier projects/studies (e.g. link to Github/Gitlab profile or published tools).
• Good software development skills, including routine use of version control tools in collaborative projects and dependency management with tools like Docker and Singularity.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.

The following skills and experience are considered meriting:

• Experience of working with digital pathology data and tools (e.g. OpenSlide, Bioformats, QuPath, Cytomine).
• Detailed knowledge of whole slide image file formats.
• Knowledge of other AI and image analysis frameworks (e.g. TensorFlow, OpenCV).
• Expertise in data management, particularly medical image data.
• Knowledge of and interest in pathology, oncology or other relevant medical fields.
• Familiarity with cancer research, in particular prostate cancer.
• Demonstrated scientific writing skills (e.g. in the form of theses or publications).
• Experience of working in an interdisciplinary setting with professionals from different backgrounds.
• Ability to communicate research findings understandably in different formats to diverse audiences.
• Experience of supervision or mentoring.

We attach great importance to personal qualities in this recruitment. The applicant should possess excellent analytical problem-solving skills, be able to show initiative and take responsibility of their research projects, and face obstacles in their work with perseverance. The applicant must also be highly collegial and be able to work well as a member of a cross-disciplinary and diverse team.

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.

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: Solna

Application

An employment application must contain the following documents in English or Swedish:

• PhD certificate
• 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 25-06-05

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

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