Postdoctoral Researcher in Mucosal immunology Full-time NEW

Postdoctoral Researcher in Mucosal Immunology

Mucus is a dynamic biological interface that regulates microbial interactions, molecular exchange, and immune activation, and plays a central role in tissue homeostasis. Yet, the mechanisms governing its structure and function remain poorly understood, limiting our understanding of disease and its potential as a therapeutic target.

The workgroup that you will be a part of focuses on uncovering the principles that govern mucus-mediated protection by integrating epithelial cell identity, post-translational modifications, and physiology, with the goal of enabling new therapeutic strategies to combat mucus associated disease.

The workgroup operates at the division of Immunology and Respiratory Medicine within a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary environment. The lab has close interactions across immunology, bioinformatics, structural biology, biochemistry, and clinical research, both locally and internationally.

Your Mission

The project aims to investigate the role of O-glycan mediated regulation of intestinal mucus function with a particular focus on the role of differential glycosylation mediated by different epithelial cellular subtypes.

The project involves establishing a comprehensive mapping and functional analysis of O-glycan sites outside the typical mucin domains of the main mucus protein MUC2 using a combination of in vitro methodology. Furthermore, the project incorporates bioinformatics analysis of published and in-house generated datasets for downstream analysis, and functional validation including advanced imaging.

You are expected to independently drive the project forward, while actively engaging with the research group. Collaboration within the team and contribution to the overall lab environment are important parts of the role.

Your Profile

Required qualifications: • PhD in molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, biomedical sciences, or a closely related discipline with a strong experimental component. • Experience in O-glycan related methodologies and theory.

Meritorious: • Experience of advanced imaging techniques, including confocal imaging of whole tissue. • Mutagenesis design and expression of recombinant proteins. • Experience with omics-analysis, for example bulk or scRNA-seq, or glycomics. • Basic bioinformatics skills and experience handling large datasets.

We attach great importance to personal qualities in this recruitment. As a person, you are:

• Analytical, structured, and detail-oriented, with a strong commitment to high-quality work and an interest in solving complex research questions. • Self-driven and able to work independently, with the ability to take initiative and move projects forward while seeking input and raising challenges constructively when needed. • Curious and motivated to learn new methods, skills, and concepts, with perseverance and resilience to see projects through to completion. • Collaborative, with good communication skills, and comfortable working in interdisciplinary teams with diverse backgrounds. • Willing to contribute to a positive and well-functioning lab environment

To be eligible for employment as a postdoctoral researcher, a PhD or a foreign degree deemed to be equivalent to a Swedish PhD is required. This eligibility requirement must be fulfilled at the latest at the time of the employment decision. Completion of your doctoral degree within the last three years is considered an advantage. If there are special reasons, your degree may have been completed earlier.

What Do We Offer?

A creative and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. At Karolinska Institutet, we conduct successful medical research and hold the largest range of medical education in Sweden. At KI, you get to meet researchers working with a wide range of specialisms and methods, giving you ample opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience with the various scientific fields within medicine and health. It is the crossover collaborations, which have pushed KI to where it is today, at the forefront of global research. Several of the people you meet in healthcare are educated at KI. A close relationship with the health care providers is important for creating groundbreaking top quality education and research. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several benefits through our collective agreement.

Location

The position is based at the Department of Medicine, Solna. The department consists of ten divisions, each comprising several research groups. The current position is based in the Eduardo Villablanca research group within the Division of Immunology and Respiratory Medicine. The principal investigator responsible for the project within the research team is Elisabeth Nyström.

Application

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

• PhD certificate
• A complete resumé, 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)

KI applies individual and differentiated salary setting in accordance with our collective agreements RALS and RALS-T

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