Karolinska Institutet, Institutionen för medicin, Huddinge

Division
The Cell and Gene Therapy Group in Department of Medicine Center for Hematology and Regenerative Medicine is announcing the creation of one postdoctoral research position at Karolinska Institutet within the research fields of Hematology and Cancer Immunotherapy.

The Department of Medicine at Huddinge comprises seven units, three research centers and, around 70 independent research groups. Our ambition is to be a leading department within medical research and education. The Center for Hematology and Regenerative Medicine (HERM) is a research unit within the Department of Medicine Huddinge. The research at HERM is focused around translational studies of the immune system. HERM has since its inauguration in 2011 rapidly grown and gained national and international recognition.

Description of the research group
The Cell and Gene Therapy Group (CGTG) has internationally-recognized leadership in clinical grade, current good manufacturing practice (cGMP)-compatible manufacturing of cellular and gene therapy applications. The postdoctoral researcher will be working at Laboratory of the future ANA 8, in a translational research environment encompassing research groups involved in hematology, immunology, and cell therapy. We have full access to a GMP facility capable of generating clinical grade cellular and gene therapy products. Furthermore, CGTG has been involved in a large number of clinical trials, including the first gene therapy clinical trial in Sweden as well as the first Swedish clinical trials assessing the safety of both patient and donor derived ex vivo expanded NK cells in patients with various malignancies.

Description of the postdoctoral research
The research project will be pre-clinical translational research in cancer immunotherapy focusing on optimization of immunomodulatory therapies. The aim of this project is to pre-clinically investigate a new immunotherapeutic product both in vitro and in vivo. More specifically, the research will encompass expansion of primary human NK cells, in vitro stimulation of NK cells by immunomodulatory agents and characterization of peripheral blood cells post immunomodulatory agent stimulation. The NK cells will be functional analyzed in order to increase NK cell cytotoxicity against tumor targets. Tumor targets will be both cell lines and autologous tumor cells. The efficacy of immunomodulatory agent stimulated NK cells in vivo will be tested in an orthotropic model. Depending on qualifications of the applicant, the position may offer the possibility to be prolonged into the clinical phase of the project.

Entry requirements
A person is eligible for a position as Postdoctoral Researcher if the applicant has obtained a PhD no more than seven years before the last date of employment as postdoc.

The applicant must hold a Ph.D. degree in the field of medical science, biomedicine, immunology, or biology. A medical degree is meritorious. The ideal candidate for this position is highly independent, practical, extremely ambitious and hungry for strong results. Candidates should be highly-motivated, creative, have strong communication skills as well as an excellent track record and extensive knowledge in vivo models. A minimal requirement for application is at least one first author publication published in an internationally well recognized scientific journal within the field of either hematology, cancer immunotherapy or gene therapy.

Experience of research work in cellular immunology, tumor and bone marrow microenvironment, primary cell culture, multi-color flow cytometry, in vivo models including intrafemoral injections, and molecular biology is required.

The candidate must be skilled in using standard information technologies for biomedical research purposes. Fluency in English and skills in scientific writing are mandatory. High level oral and written presentation skills are critical for these positions.

We are looking for a Researcher who has a strong work ethic, passion for solving difficult questions & challenges with the ability to design, plan, perform, and interpret original experiments in an independent and innovative environment. The candidates should have high integrity and be aware of the multicultural setting they are going to be located at.

Application process

  1. A complete curriculum vitae including: education details, date and title of doctoral thesis, previous academic positions, academic title, present position, academic awards, and engagements in committees of trust.
  1. Summary of doctoral thesis with appropriate references to published research outputs (max. 3 pages including references and figures, 12 p font size, 1.5 line space). Please also include your exact input for each study in the thesis with regards to designing and carrying out experiments, optimizing techniques and writing manuscripts.
  1. A complete list of publications in peer-reviewed journals and abstracts presented at international meetings.
  1. A synopsis of current work if different from doctoral thesis (max. 1 page including references and figures, 12 p font size, 1.5 line space).
  1. A synopsis of scientific problems or questions the applicant believes are paramount to the field of cancer immunotherapy and how to experimentally approach these projects (max. 1 page including references and figures, 12 p font size, 1.5 line space).
  1. A set of character references that will serve as confirmation of good character.
  1. Verifications for crediting of illness, military service, work for labour unions or student organisations, parental leave or similar circumstances.

This is a two year position with the posibility of prolongation.

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

Type of employment Temporary position
Contract type Full time
First day of employment According to agreement
Number of positions 1
Full-time equivalent 100%
City Huddinge
County Stockholms län
Country Sweden
Reference number 2-690/2018
Contact
  • Senior Researcher /Group leader Evren Alici, evren.alici@ki.se
Union representative
  • Yvonne Edlund OFR/ST , yvonne.edlund@ki.se
  • Mats Rudling, SACO, mats.rudling@ki.se
Published 01.Feb.2018
Last application date 11.Feb.2018 11:59 PM CET

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