Post-doctoral fellow on microglia communication - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

About the workplace:

Diabetes has a major impact on brain function, but mechanisms of diabetic encephalopathy are not completely understood. Brain function requires continouos supply of glucose and ozygen, and a tight regulation of metabolic interactions between neurons and astrocytes. Loss of this metabolic regulation that fuels neuronal activity has been proposed to be the culprit of memory dysfunction, followed by an important neurodegenerative process.

Our research aims at understanding the molecular determinants underlying cognitive imparment associated to diabetes and metabolic syndrome components, including obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, insulin resistance or hyperglycemia. In particular, the lab´s major focus is on understanding astrocute-neuron metabolic interactions, how they are regulated to support adequate brain function, and how they adapt to metabolic disease states.

The Diabetes and Brain Function lab at the Department of Experimental Medical Science is located at the BMC, and is active within different research environments of the Faculty of Medicine, namely the LUDC, WCMM, and Multipark.

The recruited post-doc will be working on intercellular communication in the central nervous system in models of metabolic disease. The goal of the project if to identify microglia-released factors and study their impact on other brain cells, and on brain function.

We offer

Lund University is a public authority which means that employees get particular benefits, generous annual leave and an advantageous occupational pension scheme.

Read more on the University website about being a Lund University employee Work with us

Work duties

Work duties include planning and conducting experiments, collecting and analyzing data, presenting results at lab meetings and conferences, writing reports and research papers, preparing research proposals, demonstrating procedures and supervising junior team members.

Research activities include:

• Analysis of untargetted multi-omics
• Immunoblotting methods on subcellular fractions of brain tissue or cells
• Advanced microscopy
• The researcher will participate in interdisciplinary collaboration projects of the lab.

The researcher is expected to conduct professional research and care for:

• Taking responsibility for his/her own skills and career development,
• Keeping at the edge of scientific and technical developments in the research field by continuous reading relevant literature and regularly attending to seminars,
• Contributing for maintenance of the lab (equipment, supplies, reagents, sample banks, and other available resources),
• Reading and responding promptly to communications from supervisor and team members
• Preparing for and attending to activities of the lab and it research environments (lab meetings, scientific seminars, method workshops, retreats).

Qualifications

The right candidate must have:

• Ph.D. in Biochemistry or scientific area judged equivalent
• Good knowledge of brain physiology, energy metabolism, and experience on the study of neuroinflammation and gliosis
• Experience with mouse behavior phenotyping, brain tissue fractioning and isolation of vesicles, respirometry studies in cells, tissue and/os isolated mitochondria, qPCR, immunoblotting methods and histology/immunofluorescence microscopy
• Understanding of -omics analysis
• Good presentation and writing skills in English

Personal attributes that are required for the position:

• The successful applicant will demonstrate strong interest and self-motivation in the research subject, ability to think analytically and creatively
• Motivation to pursue the research goals of our lab
• Ability to work both independently and in cooperation with a multidisciplinary team
• Excellent potential for scientific research (formulating and solving research problems)
• Ability to keep traceable research records (documentation of hypotheses, experiments, and data analysis)

Good to have:

• Previous research experience on the impact of diabetes and obesity on brain function.

More information

This is a fixed term postdoctoral position for 24 months with a scope of 100% with desired start date 2023-01-01 or by agreement, no later that May 2023.

How to apply
Applications are to be submitted via the University’s recruitment system. The application is to include a personal letter justifying your interest in the position and how it matches your qualifications. The application is to/should also include a CV, degree certificates or equivalent and any other document to which you would like to draw attention (copies of grade transcripts, details of referees, letters of recommendation, etc.)

Eligibility
Appointment to the position of postdoc requires that the applicant has a PhD or an international degree deemed equivalent to a PhD, within the subject of the position, completed no more than three years before the application deadline. Under special circumstances the PhD can have been completed previous to the aforementioned three years.

Terms of employment
This is a full-time, fixed-term employment. A postdoctoral fellow is employed under a period
of at least two years and at most three years. The period of employment is determined in accordance with the agreement “Avtal om tidsbegränsad anställning som postdoktor-2022-02-01” (“Agreement on fixed-term employment as a post-doctoral fellow, 2022-02-01”)

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