Postdoc in bioinformatics of DNA nanostructure selection

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

The Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC) at Karolinska Institutet conducts research and teaching within immunology, infection biology, cell biology and cancer. MTC has about 40 research groups and our key words are multidisciplinary, bridging, national and international collaborations.

The Benson group is focused on combining DNA nanotechnology with selection and sequencing to discover DNA structures that can act as pathogen binders or deliver drugs to certain cells. We use high throughput sequencing to monitor the selection process and discover individual candidates that work well. Our lab is based in Scilifelab, an interdisciplinary research environment shared by Karolinska Institutet, KTH and Stockholm university.

Your mission

We are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to join our team to develop new tools to analyze the sequencing data from selection experiments and help us understand which DNA nanostructures benefit from selection.

We currently have several datasets of repeat sequencing of DNA nanostructure ‘genomes’ from selection experiments using both Oxford nanopore and Illumina sequencing. These datasets include both ‘genome’ information and unique molecular identifier barcodes allowing us to do lineage tracing of individual structures. Your goal is to integrate this sequencing and combine it with reference data in negative selection experiments to decode the selection process and drive candidate selection. This will allow you to develop completely novel tools for a new type of DNA sequencing data.

The project could also include work on high throughput structure prediction to further identify distinct DNA nanostructures with promising properties. The project could be combined with experimental work if this is a fit for the applicant.

Your profile

To be eligible for employment as a postdoctoral researcher, 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.

The ideal candidate holds a recent PhD in biophysics, computational biology, bioinformatics, nanotechnology, or a closely related field, with demonstrated expertise in developing tools to process sequecing data.

In addition to the aforementioned requirements for the position:

• Strong programming skills (e.g., Python)
• Previous experience with analyzing sequencing data
• Excellent communication abilities, and a collaborative mindset

Meritorious for the position:

• Demonstrated work on developing new data processing pipelines for sequencing data
• Experience with in vitro selection data
• Experience with unique molecular identifiers (UMI’s)

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

More information https://bensonlab.se/

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 2026-01-04

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

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