Postdoctoral Researcher in oral and intestinal mucosal immunology - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

The Department of Medicine, Solna, is one of the largest departments at Karolinska Institutet. The department consists of several units that are separated into different research groups. The core activities of the department are research, doctoral education and undergraduate education for medical and biomedical students. The research has three main profiles: allergy, cardiovascular medicine and inflammatory diseases.

Your mission

The nasopharynx and the oral mucosa are the gate of first encounter between environmental elements and the gastrointestinal tract. The complexity of different and well differentiated mucosal tissues, as well as the presence of distinct microenvironments, make the oral cavity a unique mucosal barrier that has been largely understudied. It is known that the oral cavity could be a mirror of systemic diseases, such as IBD and CRC, and that the disturbances in the oral immune homeostasis could be linked with systemic illness. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms behind those interactions and its consequences in health or disease are still unresolved. The goal of this project is to elucidate how the disruption of the immune homeostasis at the oral or gut mucosal barriers could influence each other, and to propose the potential mechanisms behind those interactions. The successful candidate will first characterize and analyze the changes in the oral and gut immune cell network using different IBD or colorectal cancer mouse models in order to first stablish the potential interactions occurring during those conditions. The candidate will also generate strategies to reveal the potential cellular and molecular mechanisms governing those changes, and to understand the impact of those interactions on clinical outcomes of IBD and CRC patients and in novel therapies for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases, using mouse models and human samples. In summary, our proposal aims to understand the mechanisms of intestinal homeostasis and the consequences of its disruption at the oral cavity level, as well as the potential effects of homeostasis disruption at the oral mucosal barriers on the gut. This new knowledge will provide much-needed insights into aspects of oral and intestinal homeostasis that will contribute to an integrated understanding of the gastrointestinal tract as a whole and may lead to novel cellular therapies to treat IBD and CRC.

Your profile

Our lab has an opening for a highly creative and motivated postdoctoral scientist with an interest in mucosal immunology. We look for a candidate with proficiency and documented laboratory research experience particularly in oral microbiology/immunology, animal models of IBD and CRC, culture in vitro and multi-parameter flow cytometry in the context of mucosal immunology, and strong clinical skills and experience in inflammatory oral diseases. The candidate is expected to work with mouse models of intestinal inflammation and colorectal cancer, and must be able to handle and obtain oral human samples.

Experience in bioinformatics analysis would be an advantage. The position will require independent work at the laboratory as well as extensive collaboration with other experimental groups. Fluency in both oral and written English is necessary. Documented ability to analyze and present results orally and written is important.

Qualified to be employed as a postdoctor is one who has obtained a doctorate or has equivalent scientific competence. 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. Applicants who have not completed a doctorate at the end of the application period may also apply, provided that all requirements for a completed degree are met before the (intended) date of employment. This must be substantiated by the applicant's main supervisor, director or equivalent.

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. Our vision is to pursue the development of knowledge about life and to promote a better health for all. 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. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several benefits through our collective agreement.

Location

The position is located within the Department of Medicine, Solna. The department consists of twelve divisions and each division consists of several research groups. The position is located within the research group lead by Associate Professor Eduardo Villablanca at the Immunology and Allergy division. In this project, our research group tries to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the homeostatic or pathological interactions between the oral cavity and the gut, in the context of mucosal immunology. We aim to elucidate the influence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC) in oral immunosurveillance. The project has an emphasis in the identification of the molecular and cellular mechanisms involving the immune cell network and microbial interactions at the oral cavity and intestinal mucosal barrier.  Methodologically, in vitro and in vivo approaches using experimental models and patient material will be used. Our group works in an inspiring and interactive research environment at the Karolinska University, Solna and has ongoing collaborative projects with national and international colleagues.

For more information about our group, please visit:

https://ki.se/en/meds/eduardo-villablanca-group

https://villablancalab.com/

Twitter: @ejvillablanca

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)

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

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