Postdoctoral position in Molecular medicine/imaging - ,

A 2-year postdoctoral fellowship is available to study the pathophysiology of diabetes by advanced optical 3D imaging techniques. The research will be carried out at Umeå Center for Molecular Medicine, which offers a stimulating and international research environment. This is a full time employment with placement in Umeå and starting date as soon as possible or upon agreement. Last application date is 28 March 2022. 

Description of the project

The pancreas controls multiple homeostatic functions through the activities of its constituent exocrine acinar- and endocrine islet cells. The endocrine cells of the pancreas, insulin producing β-cells being the most prominent type, are organized into the islets of Langerhans that are scattered throughout the exocrine tissue. Given its role in glucose metabolism, the organ plays a key role in the etiology of diabetes mellitus, a worldwide epidemic disease characterized by hyperglycemia. In type 1 diabetes the islet β-cells are destroyed by an autoimmune attack causing absolute insulin insufficiency. The other major form, type 2 diabetes, is characterized by insulin resistance and insulin secretion deficiency, in many cases leading to a reduction in β-cell mass.

Using advanced 3D imaging techniques including optical projection tomography (OPT) and light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM), our lab recently described methods enabling high resolution 3D imaging of specifically labelled cell-types and proteins throughout the volume of the human pancreas with mm-resolution (Hahn et al., Communications Biology,2021 https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-02589-x ). Using cell-, molecular biology and immunohistochemical approaches in combination with optical 3D imaging and image analysis, the main goal of the project is to characterize and to identify novel molecular/pathological changes in the human pancreas in conjunction with diabetes and to address mechanistic aspects of the disease.  To this end, we have collected a unique material of pancreatic tissue. Dependent on the candidate’s qualifications and research interests, the position offers ample opportunity develop an own research line within the greater framework of groups research interests. E.g., within data mining of existing and future data sets or more applied molecular biology approaches to substantiate and complement imaging data.

Eligibility 

To qualify for the position, the candidate should hold a PhD degree, or a foreign degree that is deemed equivalent to a PhD degree, in molecular biology, cell biology, biotechnology, computational biology/image analysis or equivalent subject. To be eligible, the degree should have been completed a maximum of three years before the end of the application period unless special circumstances exist (these include absence due to illness, parental leave, appointments of trust in trade unions or similar). The ability to develop independently as well as in a team and fluency in written and oral English are essential. Ideally, the candidate should have previous experience with LSFM and/or OPT hardware, software and image analysis as well as cell/ molecular biology and immunohistochemical techniques.

Other merits for the position, but not a requirement, include previous experience with commercial image-analysis software such as Imaris or Arivis, computational and analytical skills with previous knowledge of programming and scripting languages (Java/Python/R/MATLAB), Knowledge of data mining, machine (deep) learning, multivariate analysis and 3D stitching. Good general knowledge of the pancreatic anatomy and diabetes as well as documented experience with immunohistochemical and whole mount assays are further meriting.

More information about the position

The appointment is a full-time, fixed-term position for two years in accordance with the terms of contract for fixed-term employment as a postdoctoral researcher from 1 February 2022. 

More information about the position and the group can be obtained by contacting Prof. Ulf Ahlgren; Mail: Ulf.Ahlgren@umu.se, Phone: +46 70 220 9228 0r +46 90 786 5055 or at https://www.umu.se/en/research/groups/ulf-ahlgren2/ 

Application

The application must include:

·       A brief description of your research interests and a statement describing why you are interested in the position.
·       CV
·       List of publications
·       Degree certificate from doctoral studies and other relevant degrees
·       Contact details of two reference persons

The application must be written in Swedish or English. The application must be made via our e-recruitment system Varbi and must be received latest 28 March 2022. 

We look forward to receiving your application.