Postdoctoral Researcher in Infection Medicine - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Division
The division of Clinical Microbiology is involved in advanced basic scientific, translational and clinical research. At the division there are presently eight research groups in microbiological research.

About the research group
Dr. Piotr Nowak works as a consultant in infectious diseases at Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge and heads a research team at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institute. http://ki.se/en/medh/microbiota-inflammation-team

The research interests include role of microbiome in chronic infections with focus on HIV and TB infections. The purpose and aims of the research include;

• Characterization of microbiome and metabolome during chronic infections.
• Identification of inflammatory biomarkers of clinical importance with focus on HIV patients.
• Studies on HIV cure.
• Studies on the microbiome modulation in Clostridum difficile infection.

Duties
The studies of gut microbiome in HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections.

Project description
The gut microbiome is altered in HIV infected individuals with microbiome diversity correlating to immune status and changes in microbiome composition and metabolic function in untreated HIV-1 patients. Additionally, the role of gut microbiome in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (TB) is postulated. The current project aims to characterize the specific bacterial components that are important for both immune reconstitution and inflammation in HIV infection and associated with reactivation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We also aim to understand the role of antivirals in gut microbiome and bacterial metabolism of antivirals in vitro.

A postdoctoral position is available with Dr. Piotr Nowak at Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden https://ki.se/en/medh/team-microbiota-inflammation in affiliation with The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) at Umeå University. The intended project will be conducted in collaboration with Associated Professor Felipe Cava and other research groups at MIMS/UCMR www.mims.umu.se  www.ucmr.umu.se

Entry requirements
A person is eligible for a position as Postdoctoral Researcher if he or she has obtained a PhD no more than seven years before the last date of employment as postdoc. The term can be extended under special circumstances.

The ideal candidate should have a PhD in microbiology, molecular biology or cell biology (or equivalent). The candidate should have excellent knowledge and technical skills in bacteriology, bacterial cultures, as well as experience in molecular biology (including bacterial genetics). Competence in cell cultures infection models with bacterial isolates is an advantage. Candidate with strong knowledge in bacterial metabolism including publications in the field will be given preference.

Experience from bioinformatics work with microbiome and genome based research as well as genomic methods is a merit.

The candidate should be proficient in written and oral communication in English.

Personal skills
The successful candidate should have a strong drive to pursue experimental research, and be ambitious and innovative. The project is multi-disciplinary. Thus, strong communication and collaborative skills in an international milieu are necessary. Experience of working with techniques in molecular cell biology, molecular cloning, clinical biochemistry, and/or immunology are important, The candidate should have a strong work ethic, good writing skills, and the ability to drive a project forward. Emphasis will be put on personal skills in the evaluation process.

We welcome a creative, hardworking and enthusiastic team-player to our group. The candidate is expected to take part in experimental design, experimentation, presentations, and preparation of publications. The successful candidates will be expected to actively seek funding with the assistance of the PI.

Assessment criteria
A selection will be made among qualified applicants on the basis of the ability to benefit from experimental translational research. Karolinska Institutet uses the following bases of assessment: - Documented subject knowledge of relevance to the area of research - Analytical skill - Other documented knowledge or experience that may be relevant to studies in the subject. The qualifications of the applicants will be evaluated on an overall basis.

Application process
The application is to be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system. Applications should be written in English containing:

1. 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
2. A complete list of publications
3. A summary of current work (no more than one page)

Questions can be addressed to Piotr Nowak Piotr.Nowak@ki.se
We look forward to receiving your application!

About MIMS and the MIMS Clinical Research Fellows (CRF) Programme: The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden, (MIMS, www.mims.umu.se), is the Swedish node in the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine (www.embl.de/research/partnerships/remote/nordic/). MIMS consists at the moment of 21 research groups and in total 150 scientists including around 50 Postdocs, 40 PhD students, 11 Clinical Research FellWe follow the EMBL model for recruitment and evaluation of young group leaders and postdoctoral fellows and collaborate with our Nordic Partners and the EMBL. MIMS is integrated in the interdisciplinary research consortium Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (www.ucmr.umu.se) with access to state-of-the-art research infrastructure.

In order to strengthen clinical research and more closely incorporate preclinical and clinical research, MIMS decided in 2009 to initiate a programme for Clinical Research Fellows. The intention is to connect existing, mostly preclinical research projects closer to the clinic and to offer resources corresponding to half-time research positions for two years for young clinicians and a two years funding of a postdoctoral fellow who is affiliated to both the research group of the CRF and to a research group at MIMS. Thereby MIMS will strengthen clinical research in infectious diseases and contribute to a fruitful translational interaction between clinicians and MIMS research programs.