Bioinformatician / Postdoctoral Fellow
Postdoc Metabolic Modelling in IBD Full-time
We are one of the three largest University Hospitals in Germany and with more than 14,500 employees, the largest employer in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. We perform university medical research and teaching at 51 clinics and 26 institutes at our medical faculties in Kiel and Lübeck.
The Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology is focused on the understanding of the pathophysiology of chronic inflammatory disease, namely inflammatory bowel disease and has contributed in the recent to the molecular understanding how IBD risk genes transform into chronic intestinal inflammation in human. The Institute is one of the core research centres in various national and international research alliances (e.g. DFG ExC, BMBF consortia iTREAT, GUIDE-IBD and Try-IBD, H2020 SYSCID, IMI2 3TR and ImmUniverse).
We are looking for professional and competent support as early as possible. One PostDoc position (2 years) is available at the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology.
Our lab focuses on the role of host-microbial interaction and instruction of intestinal immunity in the context of intestinal inflammation. We are investigating how IBD risk genes (e.g. ATG16L1, XBP1) promote epithelial cell dysfunction in the context of intestinal inflammation (Nature 2013, Journal of Experimental Medicine 2018, Science 2019) and intestinal carcinogenesis (Nature 2016, Gastroenterology 2018). We employ omics-based approaches to identify novel immunometabolic principles in the pathogenesis of IBD (Gut 2019, Gastroenterology 2019).
The advertised position will work within the DFG-funded Excellence Cluster “Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation”. Within the anticipated project we aim to broaden our understanding of the biochemical interplay between diet, the human intestinal microbiome, and immunometabolic pathways in chronic inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatic arthritis, or psoriasis. In this context we aim to investigate the role of amino-acid immunometabolism and understand its impact on host-microbial co-metabolism in the context of intestinal inflammation. Using metabolic modelling approaches we strive to identify novel diagnostic or therapeutic entry points for precision medicine in IBD.
We offer:
- The initial contract is limited for two years with the intent to prolong.
- The salary will be based on the German E13 TV-L scale (100%) if terms and conditions under collective bargaining law are fulfilled.
- Full-time Employment, currently 38.5 hours per week.
- We offer an excellent and exciting multidisciplinary team-oriented research environment and opportunities to being part of the national and international scientific community.
- Our scientist are encouraged to attend international conferences and visit cooperation partners. We offer flexible working hours and various opportunities to reconcile work and family life.
Your skills and qualifications:
- A PhD degree in systems biology, computational biology, applied mathematics, bioinformatics, or a related field
- Experience in mathematical-computational modeling of biological systems with emphasis on metabolic processes (e.g. dynamic ODE-based models, constraint-based models, elementary flux mode analysis, metabolic control analysis)
- Strong demonstrable skills in scripting / programming (preferably R and/or Python)
- Good knowledge of cellular metabolism
- Experience in processing and analyzing biological ‘omics’ data (e.g. (meta)-genomics, metabolomics, etc.) is a plus
- Fluency in the English language
- Proven experience and skills in writing scientific manuscripts for publication in international journals
- Excellent communication skills