ERC funded postdoc position in brain immunology and microglia engineering

The Faculteit Geneeskunde en Farmacie, Department Basis (bio)-medische wetenschappen, is looking for a postdoctoral researcher. 

More concretely your work package contains: 

The Movahedi lab at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel is looking for postdoctoral scientists that share our ambition and drive to develop new treatment paradigms for neurodegenerative diseases of the CNS by targeting and engineering microglia and brain macrophages. You will develop innovative new technologies and advance our understanding of how microglia modulate brain disorders and how they can be engineered to ameliorate disease.

There will be excellent training conditions, with the possibility to learn a wide set of technologies. The project relies on cutting-edge methodologies, including the development of new biologicals, iPSC engineering and in vivo transplantation, in vivo CRISPR-screening, genome-engineering, lentiviral modulation, single-cell multi-omic profiling and bioinformatic analysis. The project entails preclinical research in mouse models of disease, but with a clear intention for translatability.

Our lab is located at the university medical campus of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Jette Campus), in the hearth of Europe. Access is available to core facilities offering state-of-the art technologies. Some of the exciting equipment that you will have access to include: Cytek 5-laser spectral flow cytometer and cell sorter (> 40-parameter cytometry & sorting), Akoya Phenocycler-Fusion platform for spatial multiomic tissue profiling, Leica Stellaris DIVE 2-photon intravital microscopy platform for in vivo brain imaging, Zeiss Confocal and light sheet microscopy, Chromium X controller for scRNA-seq, MARS acoustic cell separation system, etc. 

You will join a dynamic and ambitious team of highly motivated international scientists, in a friendly environment where you can thrive both at a professional and personal level. Long-term career opportunities and mentoring are part of the package.

Funding is available via the ERC consolidator grant ReplaceMi, with your salary being covered for 3-4 year.

Relevant publications of our lab:

De Vlaminck et al. Differential plasticity and fate of brain-resident and recruited macrophages during the onset and resolution of neuroinflammation. Immunity 2022. PMID: 36228615

Scheyltjens et al.  Single-cell RNA and protein profiling of immune cells from the mouse brain and its border tissues. Nature Protocols 2022. PMID: 35931780  

Lodder et al. CSF1R inhibition rescues tau pathology and neurodegeneration in an A/T/N model with combined AD pathologies, while preserving plaque associated microglia. Acta Neuropath Comm 2021. PMID: 34103079

Pombo Antunes et al. Single-cell profiling of myeloid cells in glioblastoma across species and disease stage reveals macrophage competition and specialization. Nature Neuroscience 2021. PMID: 33782623

Van Hove H et al. A single-cell atlas of mouse brain macrophages reveals unique transcriptional identities shaped by ontogeny and tissue environment. Nature Neuroscience 2019. PMID: 31061494

www.brainimmuneatlas.org

For this function, our Brussels Health Campus (Jette) will serve as your home base.