PhD student in the Loskog/Lövgren research group - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University (www.igp.uu.se) has a broad research profile with strong research groups focused on cancer, autoimmune and genetic diseases. A fundamental idea at the department is to stimulate translational research and thereby closer interactions between medical research and health care. Research is presently conducted in the following areas: medical and clinical genetics, clinical immunology, pathology, neuro-oncology, vascular biology, radiation science and molecular tools. Department activities are also integrated with the units for Oncology, Clinical Genetics, Clinical Immunology, Clinical Pathology, and Hospital Physics at Akademiska sjukhuset, Uppsala. The department has teaching assignments in several education programmes, including Master Programmes, at the Faculty of Medicine, and in a number of educations at the Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology. The department has a yearly turnover of around SEK 420 million, out of which more than half is made up of external funding. The staff amounts to approximately 345 employees, out of which 100 are PhD-students, and there are in total more than 700 affiliated people. For more information see the department homepage http://www.igp.uu.se.

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Project description
A PhD student position is open for a highly motivated candidate interested in cancer immunology and immunotherapy in the research group of Angelica Loskog and Tanja Lövgren, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University.

The group is mainly focused on the development of cancer immunotherapies based on immunomodulatory adenoviral vectors. The research is highly translational, covering all the steps needed to develop an immunotherapy; from designing and producing the adenoviral vectors, to testing them, first in pre-clinical settings and for successful candidates in clinical trials. There are presently several ongoing clinical trials with the adenoviral vector LOAd703 being tested in pancreatic, ovarian, colorectal, biliary cancers as well as in malignant melanoma, in combination with various chemotherapeutic drugs and also checkpoint blockade.

Duties
One focus of this PhD project will be to, in pre-clinical settings, evaluate the potential of LOAd703 or similar vectors for treatment of other indications than previously tested, for example breast and bladder cancer. Another focus will be to combine the therapy with other immunotherapies, such as immunomodulatory antibodies and cell-based therapies.

The successful candidate will focus mainly on research but teaching and administrative work within the department can be included in the employment (maximum 20%). The time of the PhD education will be extended with the time spent on such tasks to achieve four years of full-time graduate studies. 

Requirements
The applicant should have MSc degree in a relevant area (e.g. biomedicine, molecular biology, molecular Medicine, etc). Documented theoretical knowledge in immunology and cancer biology is a must. A good command of written and oral English is required.

Additional qualifications
Practical experience of culturing cells (cell lines, primary cells), purifying immune cells from blood and immunological methods such as flow cytometry, immunoassays (eg ELISA) and cell viability assays as well as molecular biology assays such as purification of RNA/DNA, quantitative PCR and gene-silencing with siRNAs are strong merits. Experience of working with class II viruses and a certificate to work with animal models are very strong merits, as is experience in bioinformatics methods. Personal qualifications include ability to take own initiatives, honesty, accuracy and a good team spirit.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date as agreed. Placement: Uppsala.

For further information about the position, please contact: Tanja Lövgren, tanja.lovgren@igp.uu.se.

Please submit your application by 5 April 2022, UFV-PA 2022/529.

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