Postdoctoral studies in mechanistic and therapy development in CADASIL (scholarship)

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Division

A postdoctoral scholarship is available in the lab of Helena Karlström at the Division of Neurogeriatrics, Department of Neurobiology, Care science and Society, Karolinska Institutet. The Karlström lab is located in BioClinicum, Solna campus where all of the experiments will be conducted. 

The Karlström laboratory is aimed at elucidating mechanisms of the vascular function of small vessel disease/CADASIL and the relationship of impaired vascular function and neurodegeneration with the goal of identifying new molecular targets for diagnosis and treatment of small vessel diseases, with emphasis on CADASIL. We have developed an immunotherapy treatment in a CADASIL mouse model which we want to explore further in other CADASIL models and to study the effect with a wide range of techniques including immunohistochemistry, RNA scope, ELISA, Mesoscale discovery, transcriptomics (single cell/single nuceli RNA seq) and proteomics as well as bioinformatic analysis methods. Furthermore, we have access to human patient material which we will use for validating the findings we obtain from the mouse models with similar techniques described above. Research projects in the Karlström lab are supported by several funding bodies such as e.g., The European Joint program-Rare diseases/Swedish Research Council, The Dutch Brain Foundation, Orphan Disease Center, US, and Private donations within and outside Sweden.

Duties

The postdoctoral fellow will perform studies on mouse models including therapy treatments and to validate the effect with downstream analysis methods, using a battery of techniques such as immunostaining of microvasculature, RNA scope and different protein analysis methods in combination with advanced microscopy analysis and bioinformatic tools. The project also involves molecular and cell biology methods to study mechanism of action using for instance qPCR, western blotting, transcriptomics (sc/bulkRNA seq) and proteomics (mass-spectometry techniques), ELISA and MSD analysis. The successful candidate will be part of a highly interactive multinational and multidisciplinary team covering expertise in vascular biology and neurodegenerative diseases as well as molecular and cell biology.

Entry requirements

We are seeking an ambitious postdoctoral fellow with great team-working and communication skills, who has a background in either vascular biology (preferably small vessel diseases/CADASIL), and/or neurodegenerative diseases. The successful applicant should have extensive experience and practical skills from research animal work, immunohistochemistry and regular protein and RNA analysis methods such as western blot, qPCR, ELISA, MSD and cell-and molecular biology techniques. Furthermore, it is a merit if the applicant has knowledge in Bioinformatic tools such as in R coding language, and data processing using different package such as the Seurat package, ClusterProfiler, Monocle3. Good ability to speak and write English is a requirement. A strong scientific drive is expected, documented with a publication record.

Scholarships for postdoctoral qualification can be established for foreign researchers who place their qualifications in Sweden. The purpose of scholarships for postdoctoral qualification is to promote internationalization and contribute to research qualification after a doctorate or equivalent.

A scholarship for carrying out postdoctoral research can be granted for a maximum of two years within a four year period following the receipt of a doctoral degree or equivalent.
To be eligible for a postdoctoral scholarship, the person must have obtained a doctorate or a foreign degree deemed to be equivalent to a doctorate. 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) start date of the post doctoral education.

The head of the department determines whether their previous training and scholarly qualifications correspond to a Swedish doctorate or higher.

Location: BioClinicum, Karolinska Institutet, Solna Campus

Type of scholarship

This is a postdoctoral scholarship for one year, with the possibility of a second year. The amount is tax free and it is set for twelve months at a time, paid out on a six months basis. In exceptional cases, shorter periods may be acceptable.

Application process

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

• A complete curriculum vitae, 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 on the Varbi recruitment system.

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