Research assistant - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The Department of Surgical Sciences (IKV) is part of the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy. IKV has about 160 employees and 200 registered doctoral (third cycle) students, the majority of which are clinically active doctors and nurses. The yearly turnover is SEK 152 million. Research is conducted at the department, as well as teaching in the first, second and third cycles. Teaching is, among other areas, conducted within the education programmes for doctors, nurses and specialty nurses. Research is conducted in research groups organised according to surgical specialties and closely aligned subject areas, such as anaesthesia and intensive care and radiology. A great deal of research is conducted in cooperation between separate research groups within IKV and other departments at Uppsala University, as well as other universities in Sweden and the rest of the world. Many of the department's employees have combined positions at the University Hospital.

The research group of thoracic surgery is now recruiting a research assistant.

Project description
Inflammation is complex reaction of the body and, particularly, the immune system to various hazardous stimuli. Inflammation is a hallmark of a plethora of human diseases including cardiovascular, metabolic, infectious, autoimmune and many other types of disorders. Many laboratories including ours have demonstrated a unique efficacy of allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in treatment of patients with severe inflammatory diseases. Although effective, use of MSCs in medicine is severely restricted by the need for special storage methods and preparation technics that are not available at the majority of hospitals. On the other hand, exosomes and extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are produced by MSCs and retain the immunomodulatory activity of the parental cells, can be stored, distributed and used as standard medical drugs. Therefore, the EVs are more promising tool for the future medicine.

The aim of the project is to develop MSC-derived EVs as a future medical product with a potential to develop and register an Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product and to study the molecular basis of its effect in treatment of various inflammatory diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases. The Research Assistant will be based at the Rudbeck Laboratory, Cardio-Thoracic Translation Medicine Lab (https://www.surgsci.uu.se/Research/Research-areas-IKV/Thoracic_surgery/cttm/) that has a rich innovative environment for personal development, learning and exchange of ideas; and access to all the necessary equipment and knowledge for successful implementation of the project. This includes equipment and knowledge for cell culture, EV isolation, analysis of EV preparations, in vivo and in vitro modeling for testing of EV distribution and activity, etc. The Lab also has an access to the cutting-edge imaging, mass-spectrometry and sequencing facilities.

Work tasks
The research assistant, among other duties, will be involved in:

• Culturing of MSCs including culturing in different environments
• Culturing of induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs) obtained from patients with hereditary cardiovascular diseases
• Transcriptomic analysis of EV and cellular preparations particularly analysis of miRNA expression
• Isolation of nucleic acids from various sources including cells, tissues and paraffin blocks
• Transcriptomic analysis of the effects of the EV in in vitro and in vivo models of cardiovascular diseases including preparation of libraries for next-generation sequences and analysis of the samples using various polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods including real time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR)
• Presenting the results in English at internal laboratory meetings

All the above tasks will be performed after teaching by and with help from supervisors and other researchers involved in the project. The research assistance is expected to apply a multidisciplinary approach to the project. Other tasks, within the employment as research assistant, may be added. 

Requirements
A successful candidate must hold a master degree in an area related to Biology, Molecular Biotechnology or Molecular Biology. The candidate should be highly motivated to learn and apply new technics in the field of EV biology, translational medicine and stem cell biology. The candidate must be fluent in writing and oral English. The candidate should be able to work in a team, as well as independently. The candidate should demonstrate a professional approach to work, have an ability to plan the work ahead and perform the work according to the plan.

Additional qualifications 
Experience in cell culturing of mammalian cells such as fibroblasts, MSCs and human pluripotent cells would be a plus. Experience in isolation of nucleic acids from various sources including cells, tissues and paraffin blocs would be a plus. Experience in preparation of libraries for next generation sequencing would be a plus. Experience in quantitative analysis of nucleic acids including miRNAs using PCR-based methods would be a strong plus.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position, 12 monts. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 2023-12-01 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala

For further information about the position, please contact: professor Karl-Henrik Grinnemo, karl-henrik.grinnemo@uu.se
For questions regarding the employment procedure, please contact HR-representative Louise Lundqvist, louise.lundqvist@uu.se

Please submit your application by October 3rd 2023, UFV-PA 2023/3398.

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