Postdoc

Description of the workplace
At the Division for Experimental Infection Medicine, we conduct research in the areas of experimental immunology and microbiology with focus on respiratory tract infections. Our unit is placed within the Department of Translational Medicine and is physically located on floor B14 at the Biomedical Research Center in Lund in close proximity to other research groups working in the areas of infection medicine, immunology and respiratory biology as well as relevant core facilities.

Within the research group, we value a good working environment with respectful and considerate interactions with each other and we strive for a workplace that all employees can experience as developing and stimulating. We constantly work to create conditions that promote job satisfaction, personal development and inclusion for all employees. We find both physical safety and the psychosocial work environment of uttermost importance.

We offer
Lund University is a government agency. This means that employees receive special benefits, generous holidays, a flexible time agreement as well as a favorable occupational pension.
Duties and responsibilities.

Duties and responsibilities
At Lund University employment as a postdoc should provide the opportunity for scientific and pedagogical merit. The main priority of the position lies on qualifications in research, but also for certain university pedagogical training. 

The employment will contain work with the aim to develop novel model systems to study host-pathogen interactions and the modulating role of the respiratory normal bacterial flora during infections with respiratory pathogens. In one project, we investigate how respiratory pathogens form colonizing biofilms on respiratory epithelial surfaces and how virus infections and other disease triggers cause biofilm bacteria to become virulent and cause disease. In a second project, we investigate how protective species from the respiratory normal flora interact with respiratory pathogens on epithelial surfaces and how this affects the host inflammatory response to facilitate pathogen clearance. 

In both projects you will be responsible to develop model systems that better mimic the environments in the upper and lower respiratory tract. In collaboration with our colleagues you will be responsible for culturing and differentiating epithelial cells to upper and lower respiratory epithelium in ALI (air-liquid interface) cultures, as monolayers or organoids, in the presence or absence of relevant immune cell populations. These model systems will then be inoculated with respiratory bacteria and viruses and the bacterial and host cell responses will be analyzed through detection of inflammatory markers and mediators as well as through bioinformatic analyses (such as RNA-seq and proteomics).

Mentoring of students at the bachelor and master levels may be included in the duties. 

Qualifications
The employment requires:

• A doctoral degree or similar degree within biological sciences or related subject area. The doctoral degree needs to have been completed before employment starts.
• A good ability to develop and conduct research of good quality
• Pedagogic skills. 
• Relevant background knowledge within epithelial cell biology, bioinfocmatics, infection medicine and/or immunology
• Experience with cell culture
• Major importance will be placed on personal characteristics. The work tasks requires that you are thorough, well organized and independent. The evaluation will primarily be based on your scientific qualifications and future potential as scientists. Special emphasis will be placed on scientific ability within the area of research.

Additional qualifications for the position are:

• PhD degree completed no more than three years before the application deadline.
• Experience working with advanced cell culture methods and models
• Experience with purification and preparation of RNA and DNA for expression analyses
• Experience working with bioinformatic analyses.
• Experience with bacterial culture, infection experiments, and analyses of such experiments, especially as it relates to respiratory tract infections.
• Experience working with immune cells as well as assays to study their phenotype and function, such as flow cytometry and ELISA.
• Experience compiling scientific data and producing scientific communication in writing.

Other
The employment is limited to two years and is full-time. Preliminary start date is 2024-09-01 or as
agreed. The employment is time-limited according to the agreement, "Agreement on temporary
employment as a postdoc", between the labor parties (Arbetsgivarverket, OFR:s, Saco-S och SEKO)
daterat 2022-02-01.

How to apply
The position is applied for via the university's recruitment system. The application must contain a
personal letter with justification as to why you are interested in the employment and in what way the employment matches your qualifications. The application must also contain a CV, diploma or equivalent and other things that you wish to invoke (copies of grades, information for references, letters of recommendation, etc)

The Faculty of Medicine is a part of Lund University, and is responsible for education and research within medicine and healthcare. Our academic programs are closely linked with the healthcare system and are firmly anchored in the faculty’s strong research tradition. Our research spans a broad field within experimental preclinical research, near-patient clinical research and health sciences research. The Faculty of Medicine, with its 1,800 employees and 2,700 students in Lund and Malmö, is a knowledge-intensive meeting place for students, teachers and researchers from all over the world.

The Department of Translational Medicine is one of the six departments at the Faculty of Medicine, Lund University. We conduct basic science in a laboratory setting, point-of-care and clinical research as well as carry out epidemiological studies.

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