Postdoctoral Fellow
Two postdoctoral fellow positions available in the Schiller laboratory at Helmholtz Zentrum München / Single Cell Genomics & Proteomics / Cell Circuits in Lung Health and Disease Full-time
Munich, 11.01.2021
Two positions for postdoctoral fellows are available at the earliest possible starting date in the Schiller lab at Helmholtz Zentrum München. The full-time positions (TV-ÖD E13) are fully funded for a duration of two years with the possibility of extension. Transnational mobility and application for a postdoctoral fellowship (Marie Curie, Embo, etc) is most welcome. We are looking for highly motivated individuals with a background in biology or medicine (lung or developmental biology is an advantage). Previous experience with single cell genomics or systems biology is expected.
The projects will act in synergy with our efforts to chart the cellular dynamics of mouse and human lungs for a Human Lung Cell Atlas using single cell genomics techniques (see references below). The postdocs will develop and apply novel single cell multi-omics methods to analyze multi-cellular signaling circuits in lung health and disease.
The projects: Lung disease is a huge unmet clinical need accounting for one in six deaths globally. Stem cells can regenerate the lung in response to environmental challenges by changing their internal transcriptional states and coordinating their activities with a large number of other cell types in their microenvironment. We have made critical contributions to the first lung atlas at cellular resolution in aging, health and disease. Using longitudinal single cell analysis of lung regeneration we discovered aberrant persistence of regenerative intermediate cell states in lung fibrosis patients. The molecular checkpoints controlling the genesis and fate of such disease associated cell states are currently unknown and therefore not used for therapy.
We are working on establishing ground-breaking insights on cell-cell communication in lung health and disease, empowering future therapeutic strategies to re-program cellular circuits in lung disease. To this end we upscale single cell genomics readouts for high content perturbation experiments in organotypic model systems (e.g. human precision cut lung slices) and use a combination of spatial omics and imaging techniques to link localized signaling pathway inputs with gene programs and cell state identities in vivo.
The Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU; https://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de) – a research institution within the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers, is a leading center in health research with a focus on Environmental Health. The Comprehensive Pneumology Center (CPC, www.cpc-munich.org) at HMGU is a translational research center dedicated to respiratory medicine, which is also a partner site of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL; www.dzl.de), an association of the leading university and non-university institutions dedicated to lung research in Germany.
Twitter: @SchillerLab
Pubmed: Schiller HB
Recent relevant work of the lab:
• Mayr CH, …. , Schiller HB. EMBO Molecular Medicine 2021 (in press). Integrative analysis of cell state changes in lung fibrosis with peripheral protein biomarkers
• Strunz M, …., Schiller HB. Nat Commun. 2020 Jul 16;11(1):3559. Alveolar regeneration through a Krt8+ transitional stem cell state that persists in human lung fibrosis.
• Schiller HB, …, Nawijn M. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2019, Jul;61(1):31-41. The Human Lung Cell Atlas: A High-Resolution Reference Map of the Human Lung in Health and Disease.
• Angelidis I, …, Schiller HB. Nat Commun. 2019 Feb 27;10(1):963. An atlas of the aging lung mapped by single cell transcriptomics and deep tissue proteomics.
• Schiller HB, …Eickelberg O. Mol Syst Biol. 2015 Jul 14;11(7):819. Time- and compartment-resolved proteome profiling of the extracellular niche in lung injury and repair.
Your responsibilities
• Perform and analyze single cell and single nuclei RNA-seq and CITE-seq experiments
• Single cell multi-omics method development
• Perturbation experiments in human organotypic model systems (lung tissue slices)
• Analysis of transgenic mouse models during lung injury, repair and aging
• Analysis of patient samples and experimental design of clinical studies
• Histopathology analysis and imaging (light sheet and confocal microscopy)
• Bioinformatic data analysis
Your qualification
• PhD degree in biology or related area
• Previous experience with single cell genomics and systems biology
• Previous experience with lung and developmental biology
• Passion for science, innovation and creative and independent work
• Proficient in written and spoken English
• Teamplayer Our offer:
• Working in an innovative, well-equipped and scientifically stimulating environment
• Training and supervision in cutting edge technologies (single cell genomics, spatial omics, computational biology, imaging techniques)
• Team member in Human Cell Atlas consortium working on the Lung
• Initial employment contract for 2 years with a standard public service salary (TV-ÖD E13)
Application documents (CV, list of publications, a letter of motivation, as well as names and phone numbers of at least two referees) should be submitted as a single PDF file.