Research specialist: Immunopathology in chronic inflammatory airway disorders

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

The Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM) is a department at Karolinska Institutet and an interdisciplinary research institution within the broad field of environmental medicine. IMM conducts cutting edge research within the areas of environmental and occupational medicine, toxicology, physiology, epidemiology, and biostatistics with the aim to clarify how environmental and lifestyle factors affect our health and which role genes have. IMM also serves as a scientific advisor to public authorities within the area of environmental medicine and IMM scientists participate in national and international expert groups.

Description of the subject area

The scientific focus for the current position is on cellular and molecular mechanisms in the immunopathology of patients with chronic inflammatory airway disorders. The long-term goal of our research unit is to characterize novel and critical aspects of this immunopathology to identify targets for diagnosis, monitoring and therapy for airway disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis and severe asthma.

Your mission

The successful applicant will work in the Unit for Lung and Airway Research in laboratories located at Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, and at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, in facilities located in Solna. The position is intended to support two research groups in the unit. The main task is the practical and administrative responsibility for the shared laboratory logistics and the safe biobank storage of our human research samples. The collection of samples from human donors requires close collaboration with specialist physicians and nurses at Karolinska University Hospital in Solna and Huddinge. A very important practical responsibility is the cellular analysis with advanced flow cytometry of the airway and blood cell samples from human donors. This position also requires collaboration with Research specialists from other research units in our professional network.  The Research Specialist is also responsible for administration and management of the databases for our human study materials. The position will also allow the qualified applicant to develop a personal line of research on a part-time basis.

Eligibility requirements

To be successful at the current position as Research Specialist, the applicant must be able to operate at the highest professional level. To be formally eligible for employment, in addition to holding an academic Degree of Doctor (PhD) in a relevant subject area, the applicant must have demonstrated methodological research expertise and international experience from several laboratories. To qualify for the employment, the applicant’s PhD grade may include experience from cell biology, immunology, medicine, molecular biology or other relevant fields of research.

For employment as Research Specialist at Karolinska Institutet, the eligibility requirements stated in the Guidelines for non-teaching positions at Karolinska Institutet are applied in relation to the established profile of employment.

Assessment criteria

The successful candidate must have a scientific background relevant to the study of molecular, cellular airway and systemic immunology in humans. This requires experience from cell culture techniques involving human materials. It is especially important that the applicant has an in-depth technical and practical understanding of techniques in flow cytometry for the characterization of immune cells and their cytokine signaling. Documented skills in and experience from spatial or other morphological techniques in molecular immunology constitute a strong merit, as does experience from work with in vivo models.

Given the importance of the position for the standards of our laboratory analyses, the applicant must possess good organizational skills, personal engagement and flexibility. Experience in project coordination and laboratory safety management is a mandatory requirement. Interest in and experience from the practical supervision of Post docs, PhD and Master students is a strength. Required skills include excellence in the English language and awareness of relevant scientific literature. 

It is meritorious that the applicant has shown

•  Previous experience from running a biomedical laboratory.
•  Previous experience from the database software REDCAP.

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 the dynamic development of the Division of Lung and Airway Research.

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

Unit of lung and airway research

 Choose to work at KI - Ten reasons why

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.

The application must be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system.

Permanent position is initiated by a six months trial period.

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