Postdoctoral Researcher in translational animal model research on Parkinson’s disease

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

The Svenningsson lab is a translational and multidisciplinary research group studying movement disorders, particularly Parkinson’s disease. We use cellular and animal models and analyze samples and biopsies from patients. Our goals are to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying disease states, and to identify novel biomarkers and medically relevant therapeutic targets.  At the clinic, we do longitudinal studies on cohorts of patients with Parkinson’s disease, assessing both motor and non-motor symptoms. We also perform clinical trials with novel pharmacological therapies.

Your mission

We are looking for up to two postdoctoral researchers, with an interest in antiparkinsonian therapies and a strong background in analysis of Parkinsonian models for gene and cell therapy evaluation for Parkinson’s disease treatments.

The postdoc will use cellular and rodent models of Parkinson’s disease involving GBA or synuclein mutations associated to severe forms of Parkinson’s Disease to study preclinical potential of prosaposin overexpression in gene or cell therapy against Parkinsonian neurodegeneration. We expect the successful candidate to be able to significantly contribute to the planning and management of their project(s), supervision of students, as well as the writing of manuscripts and navigation of the peer-review process.

Your profile

Requirements:

• PhD degree in Biomedical or Neuropharmacology Research or similar.
• Experience in Parkinson’s disease models, behavioral neuroscience, histology, gene and/or cell therapy development and in vivo preclinical evaluations.
• Certificate for animal experiment and project design.
• Extensive experience in data analysis and data presentation.
• Experience in redaction of ethical permits for animal and human tissue use.
• High level of self-motivation and independence.
• Work well with others in a team.
• Willingness to supervise and share experience with students.
• Very good command of written and spoken scientific English.

Desirable knowledge and experience:

• Experience in single-cell omics analysis.
• Experience with behavioral analyses.
• Histology incl high-throughput fluorescent and confocal microscopy.
• Experience in stem cell culture and differentiation. 

To be eligible for employment as a postdoctoral reseracher, a PhD or a foreign degree deemed to be equivalent to a Swedish PhD is required. This eligibility requirement must be fulfilled at the latest at the time of the employment decision. Completion of your doctoral degree within the last three years is considered an advantage. 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

Read more about the Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Read more about the research group you will be part of

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 December 16, 2025.

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

Want to make a difference? Join us and contribute to better health for all!