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

PhD student in the Ullenhag research group

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.

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Duties
A PhD student position is open for a highly motivated candidate interested in cancer immunology and immunotherapy in the research group of Gustav Ullenhag, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University. The PhD project will be performed in close collaboration with the research group of Angelica Loskog. These two research groups have a shared interest in the development of cancer immunotherapies based on immunomodulatory adenoviral vectors. These adenoviral vectors usually carry immunomodulatory transgenes to induce anti-tumoral immune responses and may also have the ability of selective lysis of tumor cells, so called oncolysis. Together the research groups cover all the steps of developing an immunotherapy from scratch to bringing it into the clinic. Thus, the research is highly translational working from the bench to the bedside and back again. The groups are presently involved in 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 chemotherapy drugs and also checkpoint blockade.

One project for the PhD student will be to, in pre-clinical settings of ovarian cancer, evaluate the combination of LOAd703 with classical cancer therapies such as chemotherapy drugs but also with new targeted therapies. The aim is to search for synergistic/additive effects but also negative effects between the virus and these drugs. Another focus will be to develop new adenoviral vectors with additional transgenes and to evaluate these in in vitro and in vivo ovarian cancer model systems. Finally, a third project will be to develop an in vitro model to study the adenoviral vectors in ovarian cancer in the presence of all factors and cells normally present in the tumor microenvironment, including infiltrating immune cells. This in vitro system will be based on malignant ascites from ovarian cancer patients and will mean detailed analysis of both soluble factors and the cells present.

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 must have an MSc degree in a relevant area (e.g. biomedicine, molecular biology, molecular Medicine). Strong theoretical knowledge in immunology and cancer biology manifested in previous projects and published articles is a strong merit.
Practical experience of culturing cells (cell lines, primary cells) in different formats (for example 96 and 384 well plates), working with cytostatic drugs, purifying immune cells from blood and immunological methods such as flow cytometry, immunoassays (e.g. ELISA) and cell viability assays as well as molecular biology assays such as purification of RNA/DNA and quantitative PCR are strong merits.
Experience of working with class II viruses and a certificate to work with animal models are very strong merits. Experience with working with patient samples and clinical trials under good-clinical practice including following standard operating procedures is also a merit.
A good command of written and oral English is required. Personal qualifications include ability to take own initiatives, honesty, accuracy and a good team spirit.

Application procedure
The application should contain a letter describing the candidate and her/his research experience, a CV, copies of certificates, diplomas, degrees and grades as well as names and contact details of two references. Letter(s) of recommendation as well as relevant published papers may also be included.

Information about postgraduate level studies, admission requirements and admission decisions can be found at https://mp.uu.se/web/info/forska/forskarutbildning/medicin-och-farmaci/

Selection of applicants will be done by the future tutor for the selected student in consultation with the postgraduate study group of the Department. The Research Training Committee at the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine will formally approve the student's admission.

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

Salary
The salary will be set according to local guidelines at Uppsala University. For more information on salary please see: https://www.saco.fackorg.uu.se/doctoral-students/doctoral-student-salaries/ 

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: Professor Gustav Ullenhag (Gustav.UllenhagGP.uu.se) or Associate Professor Tanja Lövgren (Tanja.Lovgren@IGP.uu.se)

Please submit your application by September 8 2023, UFV-PA 2023/2935.

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