Job ID: 86613

Postdoctoral positions in Cell replacement therapies for Parkinson’s disease

Position: Post-doctoral Position

Deadline: 15 September 2022

Contract Length: 2-4 years

City: Stockholm

Country: Sweden

Institution: Karolinska Institutet

Department: MBB

Description:

We invite applications for a postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Professor Ernest Arenas http://ernestarenaslab.org/. The position will be placed in the Division of Molecular Neurobiology, a cluster of 8 research groups forming a dynamic and collaborative research environment within the MBB department, at the Karolinska Institute.

Our laboratory is located in the Karolinska Institute, one of the world’s leading medical universities and home of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. Karolinska Institutet conducts cutting edge medical research and holds the largest range of medical research and education in Sweden. Positions will be placed in Biomedicum, one of the largest and most modern research buildings in Northern Europe. Our lab offers an inclusive, interactive, multidisciplinary and international research work environment, where you can enjoy science and develop your career. You will be able to address fundamental questions and advance therapies to combat neurodegeneration.

We offer full time (100%) postdoctoral positions for 2-4 years, starting after the summer of 2022. The positions offer excellent training possibilities, outstanding research network and opportunities to interact and collaborate with other leading laboratories and researchers around the world.

Position 1: Astrocyte-to-neuron conversion for cell replacement in Parkinson’s disease. (Ref. 2-2913/2022):

Position supported by a collaborative project of the EU (Neurostemcell-reconstruct, 2019-2024) and an ERC Advanced Grant (PreciseCell PD, 2021-2026).

We look for two postdoctoral fellows interested in developing precision cell replacement strategies for Parkinson’s disease based on cell engineering. Our laboratory has previously provided proof of concept that the conversion of astrocytes into midbrain dopamine neurons in vivo can rescue motor deficits in a mouse model of PD (Rivetti di val Cervo, 2017, Nature Biotechnology). We now aim at further developing these technologies by: tailoring reprogramming to human astrocytes in PD as defined by snRNA-seq, by improving the functionality of the converted DA neurons with new reprogramming factors vectors and by defining the reprogramming process at the single cell levels and defining their quality as described (La Manno et al., 2016, Cell; Nishimura et al., 2022, in preparation).

For more information and application, please go to: https://ki.varbi.com/what:job/jobID:527076/

Position 2: Cell transplantation for Parkinson’s disease (Ref. 2-3007/2022):

Project supported by an ERC Advanced Grant aiming (PreciseCell PD) and a collaborative project of the EU (Neurostemcell-reconstruct).

The successful candidates will transplant neural progenitors derived from pluripotent stem cells in transgenic mouse models and 6-hydroxydopamine models of PD. Applicants will work on one of the two following projects: 1) Develop a precise and effective cell replacement therapy for PD using the minimal number of cells and cell types. 2) Identification of the optimal pluripotent stem cell line engineered to prevent immune rejection. Analysis will be performed at histological, single cell, functional and behavioral levels. The project is based on previous work from the lab defining the human midbrain at the single cell level (La Manno et al., 2016, Cell), which has been used to develop new stem cell protocols and cell preparations (Nishimura, 2022, in preparation) and cell replacement in animal models of PD (Rivetti di val Cervo, 2017, Nature Biotechnology).

For more information and application, please go to: https://ki.varbi.com/what:job/jobID:528697/

Applications:

Applications should include your CV, publications list, 3 references and a letter describing your current work and motivation to apply. If you have any additional question please contact: ernest.arenas@ki.se