Postdoctoral position in a project colorectal cancer - ,

Postdoctoral position in a project on the intestinal microbiota in colorectal cancer

This appointment is part of a strategic initiative from the Faculty of Medicine and aims to stimulate innovative and interdisciplinary research. The appointment is a full-time, fixed-term position for two years and aims to investigate the role of the intestinal microflora in colorectal cancer with focus on mechanistic insights and clinical applications. The work will be performed in a translational project group. Application deadline 11 March 2022. 

Description of the project
This project is run by a translational project group that consists of four different research groups. The work will be performed at the Department of Medical Biosciences and the Department of Molecular Biology. The project aims to investigate the role of bacteria in colorectal cancer from several different perspectives. The project is therefore interdisciplinary and will include studies of mouse models, in vitro bacteria-host interaction experiments, characterization of human biomaterials as well as the relation to clinical aspects. The project goal is to obtain mechanistic insights about interactions between the microbiota and the bowel mucosa and its mucus layer, but also how the bacteria interact with cancer cells and the immune system. The results might have impact on early detection of colorectal cancer and the treatment of already established colorectal cancer.

Work responsibilities
The work tasks will initially focus on studies of the effects of the microbiota on intestinal mucus layer in an experimental mouse model. Additionally, the project will include in vitro interaction experiments using anaerobic bacteria, traditional cell lines and human tumor organoids as well as immune cells. Co-culture systems will be used to study the interaction between bacteria, cancer cells, and immune cells. Furthermore, genomic and metagenomic analyses of biological patient samples (blood, faeces, tissue) will be performed and the results will be related to clinical patient data. An important task for the postdoctor will be to cooperate with staff members from different research disciplines. 

Eligibility
To qualify for this postdoctoral position candidates should have a doctorate degree, or a foreign qualification deemed to be the equivalent of a doctorate degree in microbiology, molecular biology, immunology or pathology. This eligibility requirement must be met no later than the time at which the appointment decision is made. 

The applicant must have solid knowledge and professional experience of traditional modern biological laboratory methods within the field of microbiology, molecular biology or immunology. The applicant should have experience from independent work with animal models, mainly mouse models.

Very good knowledge in written and spoken English is required. 

Additional desirable qualifications 
Since appointment as a postdoctoral researcher is a career-development position for junior researchers, we are primarily interested in applicants who completed their doctoral degree no more than three years before the application deadline. Candidates who has completed their degree prior to this, may be considered if special circumstances exist. Special circumstances include absence due to illness, parental leave, clinical practice, appointments of trust in trade unions or other similar circumstances, and for relevant duties/assignments within the subject area. 

Knowledge of microbiological and cell biological methods is desired, for example experience of anaerobic bacteria culturing systems is valued. Knowledge about experimental genetic techniques such as transfection, cloning and expression analyses are desirable. Other genetic knowledge and experiences from human genetics or metagenomics are valuable qualifications. It is also an additional useful qualification to have experience from co-culture experiments, flow cytometry and confocal microscopy, or similar. Experience from work on human tumor tissue material or similar is also desirable as well as experience from interdisciplinary work.

Further 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 starting as soon as possible or upon agreement. 

More information about the group's research can be found on our website:
https://www.umu.se/forskning/grupper/richard-palmqvist/

Application
The application must include:

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

The application, written in Swedish or English must be submitted via our e-recruitment system, Varbi. Deadline for submission of application for this position is 11 March 2022.

We look forward to receiving your application!