Postdoctoral Researcher in ”Endolysin development for bacterial meningitis”

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

Bacterial meningitis is still today a life-threatening infectious disease that lives hundreds of thousands of people with permanent neurological disabilities. Two major challenges remains unaddressed today: antibiotic-resistance and drug delivery into the brain. This postdoctoral position offers the chance to investigate bacteriophage-derived enzymes (endolysins) as new antimicrobial treatments for bacterial infections affecting the brain.

Your mission

As a postdoctoral researcher, the ideal candidate will lead a project with responsibility to perform in vitro (human cells) and in vivo (mouse model of meningitis) experiments to validate i) antimicrobial properties of endolysins, ii) cytotoxicity of endolysins towards human cells and mouse host, as well as computational design to synthetize new variants of endolysins.

Your profile

To be eligible for employment as a postdoc, 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.

The laboratory of Neuro-Infections and Neuroinflammation led by Associate Professor Dr. Federico Iovino is conducting research focused on understanding molecular mechanisms of neuronal damage during bacterial meningitis and developing new antimicrobial and neuroprotective treatments.

Location: Solna

Choose to work at KI – Ten reasons why | Karolinska Institutet

Neuro-infections & Neuroinflammation – Federico Iovino Group | Karolinska Institutet

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 2025-09-03.

The application is to 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!