Biomedical Analyst - 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.

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 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: 1) to develop and register a medical product; and 2) to study the molecular basis of its effect in treatment of various inflammatory diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases. The Biomedical Scientist will be based at the Cardio-Thoracic Translation Medicine Lab (CTTM) at the Rudbeck Laboratory, (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.

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

• Culturing of MSCs in bioreactors and cell culture flasks
• Development of methods for mass production of MSC-derived EVs
• Molecular analysis of the EV preparations using various methods
• Analysis of the effects of the EVs in in vitro models including cellular models
• Presenting the results in English at internal laboratory meetings

The Biomedical Scientist is expected to have at least one year experience in working with EVs produced from MSCs to be able to work independently and a broad knowledge of standard methods of molecular biology to apply a multidisciplinary approach to the project.

Requirements
A successful candidate must hold a bachelor degree in an area related to Biomedical Laboratory Science, Molecular Biotechnology or Molecular Biology. The candidate must have at least one year experience in culturing of cells in bioreactors and cell culture flasks; one year experience in methods of EV isolation such as tangential flow filtration; and one year experience in methods of EV analysis such as nanoparticle tracking analysis. 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 will need to accept to work according to GMP- standards in order to be part in the production of EVs for clinical trials. Furthermore, 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, perform the work according to the plan and document the results.

Additional qualifications
Experience in cell culturing of MSCs in several bioreactor systems would be a strong plus. Experience in molecular biology methods such as Western-blot analysis, fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) would be a plus. Previous experience with in vitro cellular models such as proliferation assay would be a plus.

About the employment
The employment is a permanent position (probationary period may be applied). Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date as soon as possible. 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 Caroline Tedenlind, caroline.tedenlind@uu.se

In this recruitment we have replaced the cover letter with questions that you are asked to answer when making your application. The answers will be used as a part of the selection process.

Please submit your application by 31 May 2024, UFV-PA 2024/1498.

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