Postdoctoral Researcher in Virology and Cell Biology

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.

A postdoctoral position is available in Prof Gerald McInerney’s research group. The laboratory focuses on the cell biology of virus infection, with a particular interest in alphaviruses, including chikungunya virus. We have a wide network of collaboration partners in virology, immunology, vaccinology, structural biology and biophysics, computational biology, and other fields of interest. Some recent publications from the group: Götte et al., PLoS Pathogens 2019; Hanke et al., Nature Comms 2020 and 2022; Hanke et al., Science Adv 2022; Long et al., Nature Comms 2025. Further information can be found at our website www.alphavirus.org.

Your mission

The successful candidate will employ proteomics-based methods to uncover novel interaction partners in alphavirus infections and in infection-related cellular conditions. Screening methods, using CRISPR and siRNA as well as drug libraries will be used to identify novel cellular players in viral infection. In addition, hypothesis-driven investigations should reveal mechanisms of importance in viral infection and host responses. The postdoctoral fellow will have or will develop expertise with classical virology and cell biology methods as well as to contribute to the development of new techniques and methods to study cell biology of viral infection. The work will be presented in prominent academic journals and at international conferences. The successful candidate will contribute to the day- to-day supervision and training of project students and junior staff.

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.

In addition to the aforementioned requirements for the position:

• Have a PhD or equivalent degree in virology, cell biology or another relevant field
• Experience working with neurotropic viruses and neuronal culture systems
• Experience working with human pathogenic viruses at Biosafety Level 3
• A track record of publications in high quality peer-reviewed academic journals
• Experience in laboratory supervision of MSc and PhD students as well as formal undergraduate teaching activities
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to work in teams
• Good communication skills in spoken and written English
• Ability to work creatively and independently

Meritorious for the position:

• Experience with use of a variety of -omics methodologies to study virology and/or cell biology and skills in interpreting large datasets from such techniques
• Evidence of ability to attract own research funding

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

https://ki.se/en/mtc

www.alphavirus.org

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)

KI applies individual and differentiated salary setting in accordance with our collective agreements RALS and RALS-T

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!