Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

We seek a new postdoc who will work in the Unit of Integrative Epidemiology at the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), Karolinska Institutet, led by Prof Fang Fang. The main goal of research activities in the Unit is to improve the understanding of the causes and consequences of ill health and disease, with a focus on psychiatric disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer.

The postdoctoral research will be part of a large collaborative EU funded project called CoMorMent (Predicting comorbid cardiovascular disease in individuals with mental disorder by decoding disease mechanisms), which involves nine partners in northern Europe and the USA. The postdoc will work in close collaboration with senior colleagues at Karolinska Institutet Professor Patrick Sullivan and the University of Iceland Professor Unnur Valdimarsdottir. Professor Sullivan leads the KI Psychiatric Genomics Institute (KI-PGI), with the overarching goal of understanding, on a population scale, how genes and environment act and interact to modify risk for severe psychiatric disorders. Professor Valdimarsdottir has long-standing experience in using Nordic health and population registers as well as longitudinal cohort studies in research of mental disorders, especially stress-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

The main aim of the CoMorMent project is to uncover mechanisms underlying the higher incidence of cardiovascular disease in people with psychiatric disorders. This project builds on recent findings that genetic variation that affects genes expressed in the brain and which increase the risk of psychiatric disorders also impact lifestyle and behaviour that increase cardiovascular disease risk. The project will identify molecular mechanisms common to psychiatric disorders and unhealthy lifestyles that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. We will take advantage of our genotyped biobank samples united with large national registries with information about disease trajectories and comorbidity in over 1.8 million people. The successful applicant will play a key role in this project, and will have rich interactions with senior colleagues across Northern Europe.

Your mission

We seek an outstanding and innovative postdoc to join our team. We are data-rich, and need a professional-level data scientist to maximize our understanding of the data we have collected and to identify new data that we need to make. This individual should be passionately committed to furthering knowledge of psychiatric disorders, particularly the comorbidity between psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular disease, in order to improve the lives of people. The successful applicant will join our team and conduct research on the genomics and functional genomics of psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular disease leveraging “multi-omic” approaches and approaches used for high-dimensional and complex register data. The KI team has a strong track record of promoting early career researchers.

Your profile

Qualified to be employed as a postdoctor is one who has obtained a doctorate or has equivalent scientific competence. 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.

  • Applicants should have a PhD in medical science such as epidemiology, biostatistics, computer science, statistics, genetics, etc. We will also consider those with PhDs in other areas but who have advanced/relevant data science skills (e.g., machine learning).
  • Prior experience in professional analysis of multiple types of modern genomic and functional genomic datasets, including GWAS, exome sequencing, whole genome sequencing, RNA-sequencing, or register-based studies are a plus.
  • Modern genomics requires advanced skills in programming (e.g., R, Python), use of standard software packages (e.g., PLINK, GATK), flexibly manipulating large datasets, bioinformatic integration, and pathway analysis. Knowledge of complex trait genomics is very important. Knowledge of genomics (particularly psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular disease) is helpful but could be taught if required.
  • Applicants should be highly collegial and experienced in working effectively in “team science” contexts. Successful postdocs possess exceptional organizational skills and know how to multitask.
  • Applicants will be asked to describe past examples of having developed structured approaches to solving unanticipated and complex problems.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills in English are required, along with experience with scientific writing.

What do we offer?

A creative and inspiring environment full of expertise and curiosity. 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. Karolinska Institutet is a state university, which entitles to several benefits such as extended holiday and generous occupational pension. Employees also have access to our modern gym for free and receive reimbursements for medical care.


Location:
Solna

https://ki.se/imm/enheten-for-integrativ-epidemiologi

 

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.

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

Type of employment Temporary position
Contract type Full time
First day of employment According to agreement
Salary Monthly salary
Number of positions 1
Full-time equivalent 100%
City Solna
County Stockholms län
Country Sweden
Reference number 2-2139/2020
Contact
  • Fang Fang, professtor , fang.fang@ki.se
Union representative
  • Anne Boström, SEKO , 08-524 875 79, anne.bostrom@ki.se
  • Niklas Andersson, OFR , 08-524 874 19, niklas.andersson@ki.se
  • Karlhans Che, Anda Gliga Saco-S, karlhans.che@ki.se, anda.gliga@ki.se
Published 14.May.2020
Last application date 26.Jun.2020 11:59 PM CEST

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