Postdoctoral Researcher to develop next generation AI/ML driven tools for multi-modal data integration in personalised cardiovascular medicine

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join our team Translational Vascular Medicine.

Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery

The Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery (MMK) carries out both preclinical and clinical research within numerous fields. Linked to the Department are approximately 450 researchers, postgraduate students, teachers and technical and administrative staff and we currently have about 150 PhD students. The Department is conducting undergraduate courses for medical, biomedical and biomedical laboratory students.

The research group

The team Translational Vascular Medicine is integrated within the large Vascular Surgery research group, at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery (MMK), KI, which is dedicated to translational and clinical research on vascular diseases and pathological vascular conditions in general. The Team Translational Vascular Medicine is specialized in molecular mechanisms underlying atherosclerosis and vascular injury. This Team is situated at the BioClinicum building, it belongs also to the Center for Molecular Medicine and gathers several other PhD students and postdocs.

The vascular diseases and conditions addressed in our broader research context are atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysms, peripheral arterial disease as well as restenosis after vascular interventions. Altogether these conditions contribute to the high overall cardiovascular mortality, dominated by complications of atherosclerosis such as myocardial infarction or stroke. To better understand the development and progression of vascular disease, over the past decades we have, together with the Vascular Surgery Clinic, Karolinska Hospital, assembled several large biobanks of human and murine vascular tissues (i.e. BiKE-Biobank of Karolinska Endarterectomies; BiRCA-Biobank of Rat Carotid Artery injury, etc.). Our platform enables large-scale multi-variate and multi-modal analyses of gene, protein and metabolite expression from vascular lesions and blood, combined with genetic, clinical/epidemiological and imaging parameters from patients. We also perform in depth functional and mechanistic studies in animal and cell culture models of vascular injury and disease.

Your mission

The overall goal of this project is to develop modern, multi-modal prediction models for assessing personalized risk for adverse outcomes, premature death, response to drugs, etc. in patients with carotid atherosclerosis. Our hypothesis is that AI/ML aided multi-modal data integration per patient will lead to more accurate predictions compared to currently widely used risk scoring tools, which are based mostly on clinical data or diagnostic imaging. The project will be performed using already existing resources and data within a large biobank of atherosclerosis patients at KI, BiKE.

The project will also be embedded in the framework of an EU Horizon project NextGen (https://www.nextgentools.eu), where KI partners participate together with totally 20 other clinical research centers, universities, professional associations, small-to-medium enterprizes and non-profit representative organizations of civil society, aiming to develop the next generation AI/ML tools for multi-modal data integration in personalized cardiovascular medicine. Another aim of NexGen is to overcome limitations with respect to health-care data sharing imposed by the EU GDPR laws by generating novel tools for health-care data portability, while implementing rigorous personal data governance principles and AI ethics.

The project holds translational potential in opening new opportunities for improved treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease, but also carries considerable novelty in the research field. We offer a position in one of the leading groups in the field of vascular disease with an excellent network of international and industrial collaborators, and longstanding experience in translational science. The project will be conducted in a multidisciplinary environment at the interface between academia, clinic, pharma industry, where resources and expertise in human biobanking, omics data, imaging, animal surgery, in vitro and molecular biology methods will be available.

Your profile

To be eligible for employment as a postdoctor 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. 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.

The suitable candidate should have a PhD in the field of biomedical data science. You should have both theoretical and empirical background in big-data analysis, multi-omics/multi-modal data integration, AI/ML modelling and/or bioinformatics. The candidate should also have an interest in the complex pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases. We are looking for a highly motivated person that should be dedicated to full time research, have the potential to work both independently and within a translational team, and manage the close collaboration between our research group, the project related EU community, as well as the clinic. The daily work is office based and situated in modern BioClinicum facilites.

The selected person will be expected to plan, perform, analyze and interpret research results independently and within the Team, present at congresses, and participate in national/international collaboration networks. Willingness to work flexibly in order to achieve project demands and targets as agreed within the Team is necessary. Being able to organise and prioritise own work, as well as organising research within the project timetable and planned deliverables is essential. Maintaining accurate and up to date electronic records for projects is necessary. Fluency in English is a requirement, knowledge of Swedish is not necessary but will be considered an advantage. Good social, organisational and analytical skills are essential. Ability to travel to other countries is essential and possibilities will exist for conducting research visits abroad. Ability to undertake teaching and pedagogical activities will be considered as an advantage.

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 our research and group:
https://ki.se/en/people/ljubica-matic
https://www.ljubicamaticgroup-translationalvascularmedicine.eu
https://ki.se/en/research/research-areas-centres-and-networks/research-groups/vascular-surgery-ulf-hedins-research-group#tab-start

Application

An employment application must contain the following documents in English or Swedish:

• 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 2024-11-15.

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