Staff scientist in tumorbiology and immunology - Befattningen är under tillsättning eller redan tillsatt, och det är inte längre möjligt att lämna in en ansökan

The Department of Molecular Biology at Umeå University, Sweden, invites applicants for a position as Staff Scientist in tumorbiology and immunology. The position is for 5 months expected to start in April 2025 or according to agreement.

The Department of Molecular Biology conducts research and teaching at the Faculty of Science and Technology. In addition to departmental grants for research and education, the department's research groups have a large number of national and international research projects with external funding. We are an international workplace with employees from many different countries.

Description of the project 

The purpose of the project is to dissect the tumour microenvironment and the genetic profile in Pancreatic Adeno Carcinoma (PDAC) taking into consideration spatial heterogeneity and how driver gene mutations in pancreatic cancer cells modulate the immune landscape leading to a highly immunosuppressive microenvironment in patient tissue sample. The data will be complemented with an in vivo model to study the role of mutant KRAS alone (the most frequent mutation found in PDAC, KC model) or mutant KRAS and concomitant mutant TP53 (KPC model) on the immune landscape and tissue microenvironment. The role of bacterial genotoxin in PDAC progression will be further investigated in the KC, KPC models as well as in the models derived organoids.

The work entails: 

• Work in direct with the pathologist to get the patient sample material, histological details, and annotation regarding the location of the tumour.
• Perform multiplex fluorescence immunostaining and in situ transcriptomics on tissue samples, optimize staining conditions for multiplexing, and combine multiplex immunostaining and transcriptomics, acquire image with tissue slide scanner and perform image analysis. 
• Development of tools to improve automatic image quantification
• Infection of PDAC models with genotoxigenic Salmonella
• Grow PDAC-murine organoids and used them for infection with genotoxigenic Salmonella.

If there are questions, please contact:
Teresa Frisan
Professor Cellular and Molecular Biology
Dept Molecular Biology
teresa.frisan@umu.se

Qualifications

We seek highly motivated candidates with a Ph.D. in cell biology with experience in tumor biology, with documented experience in studies on tumor microenvironment and cancer stem cells. You should have hands-on experience with multiplex immunostaining and in situ multiplex transcriptomics, confocal microscopy, cell culture of PDAC organoids. Strong experience in image analysis and development of image macro coding tools is required. The candidate should have experience with mouse models and have a FELASA B certificate.

Candidates must be fluent in spoken and written English. Since the project will be of collaborative nature, candidates are expected to function in a team and therefore have a good ability to co-operate. Excellent communication skills are required for interacting effectively with colleagues and peers, including colleagues from complementary research fields. Good initiative ability and experience in applying for research funding is a requirement.

Desirable qualifications

Merit is given if the candidate has conducted postdoctoral studies at a university other than where the doctoral studies were carried out.

Application 

The application should be written in Swedish or English (preferably) and must be received through our e-recruitment system at the latest 21 February 2025. The application should include: 

• A personal cover letter explaining why you are interested in the position, how you can contribute to the project and in which direction you may want to develop it (no more than 2 A4 pages). 
• A curriculum vitae that documents academic education and past and previous employments. 
• A list with your publications. 
• A copy of the PhD certificate and other relevant degree certificates. 
• A copy of the FELASA B certificate
• Names and contact details with e-mail addresses of two or three academic references. 
• Other relevant documentation you wish to include in support of your application.  

We welcome your application!