Doctoral studentship in System Immunology

Description of the workplace

The Systems Immunology Lab is seeking a curious, driven candidate with experience in computational biology and human immunology for a Data-Driven Life Sciences (DDLS) PhD position in systems immunology. Led by Associate Senior Lecturer Camila Consiglio, our team employs high-throughput multiomics technologies and advanced computational methods to explore mechanisms of the human immune-reproductive crosstalk.

Project Overview: This PhD project will explore the complex interaction between the immune and reproductive systems, focusing on how sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen influence immune function and reproductive outcomes. The research will examine immune-reproductive crosstalk in two cohorts: women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) who naturally have higher testosterone levels, and women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). The project aims to uncover how metabolic and reproductive factors affect immunity, and how immune responses impact IVF success. Ultimately, the study seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the immune-endocrine relationship and its role in both reproduction and immune health.

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 at Lund University

Work duties and areas of responsibility

In this PhD project, you will apply systems immunology methods to investigate the human immune-reproductive crosstalk using various high-throughput technologies. The assignment comprises transcriptomic (bulk and sc-mRNA-seq), epigenomic (ATACseq, CUT&RUN), proteomic (Olink assays) and compositional and immunophenotypic profiling (high dimensional cytometry). Work responsibilities include data curation and processing, and composition, editing and executing of computational scripts/workflows. Other work duties include project management, writing of grants and manuscripts, presenting at national and international conferences, attendance at seminars, informal mentorship of other employees, and working collaboratively with lab members and collaborators.

Qualifications

Requirements for employment are:

• Master of Science within Bioinformatics, Biomedicine, statistics, quantitative biology or a related discipline, or equivalent
• Fluency in computational programming, preferably using R or python
• Experience in computational biology/ omics data analysis
• Background understanding of, and experience in immunology research
• Proficiency in oral and written communication in English
• Strong communication, presentation and writing skills

Additional qualifications for the position are:

• Experience in systems immunology methods
• Experience with curation, preprocessing and/or analysis of bulk RNAseq, scRNAseq, Olink proteomics or other types of omics data
• Background in multi-omics integration
• Familiarity with git and GitHub
• Familiarity of best practices in reproducibility and open science, such as use of containers
• Experience in utilizing high performance computing clusters

Great emphasis will be placed on personal characteristics. The assignments require you to have the ability to work independently as well as the ability to work well with others in the research group and researchers outside the subject area. It also requires you to be patient, detail-oriented and precise.

Further information

Temporary employment of four years, in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance-
HF 5 kap 7§ in Sweden. The employment is a full-term position with the desired start date of December 1st 2024, or according to agreement. 

Eligibility
Students with basic eligibility for third-cycle studies are those who- have completed a second-cycle degree- have completed courses of at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits are from second-cycle courses, or- have acquired largely equivalent knowledge in some other way, in Sweden or abroad.

The employment of doctoral students is regulated in the Swedish Code of Statues 1998: 80. Only those who are or have been admitted to PhD-studies may be appointed to doctoral studentships. When an appointment to a doctoral studentship is made, the ability of the student to benefit from PhD-studies shall primarily be taken into account. In addition to devoting themselves to their studies, those appointed to doctoral studentships may be required to work with educational tasks, research and administration, in accordance with specific regulations in the ordinance.

Type of employment
Limit of tenure, four years according to HF 5 kap 7§.

How to apply
The application is to include all of the following:

• A one-page personal motivation letter in English
• CV, highlighting how you fit this specific PhD position according to "Requirements" section. CV must include two references of previous supervisors.
• You proof of eligibility (MSc diploma, indication of MSc completion before start date, or proof of credits).