Postdoc position in Neural Tissue Engineering

The Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, invites qualified applicants for a two 2-year postdoc position offering applicants to join the research on neural tissue engineering at the research group Nanofiber Technology and Cellular Engineering.

Expected start date and duration of employment

This is a 2–year position from 1st of June 2023 or as soon possible.

Job description

De-myelination is the loss of the myelin sheath insulating the nerves, which disrupts the ability the nervous system to transmit signals, resulting in multiple sclerosis with over 2.5 million people affected world-wide and representing a serious health, economic and social burden with no long-term suitable treatment. The ongoing research on myelin repair is heavily dependent on re-myelination by glial cell transplantation, which often fails with disease progression leading to irreversible functional failure. The project aims to apply innovative electrospinning technology to recapitulate the myelinated nerve fibers to elucidate pathological mechanisms of multiple sclerosis on a single-nerve fiber scale as well as pursuing the novel diagnosis and therapy discovery.

You will be contributing to optimizing the microfluidic electrospinning parameters, working primarily with neural cells and characterizing their viability, proliferation and differentitation via colorimetric assays, immunocytochemical staining and confocal imaging.

You will be in close collaboration with biophysicists to examine electrophysiology using patch clamp, and to carry out pathological mechanistic study via single-molecular tracking on myelin. You will also be involved in supervision of bachelor and master thesis projects.

Your profile

Applicants should hold a PhD in neuroscience, medicine, biomaterials, stem cell biology, tissue engineering, biofabrication or related disciplines

Qualifications:

• Experience in neuroscience, cell biology, electrosphyisology or similar.
• Experience in microfluidics or biofabrication for tissue engineering applications.
• Good skills in communication of research results internationally as evidenced by publications in excellent peer-reviewed journals.
• Experience in supervising students and teaching at a high academic level.

Who we are

Biological and Chemical Engineering is a multidisciplinary research area. It includes disease and health, materials, environmental technologies, biorefining, energy technologies and food and ingredient technology. The research at the Biological and Chemical Engineering Department is based on both theoretical and experimental methods, and include the design, development, operation, monitoring, control, and optimization of chemical, physical and biological processes. Department of Engineering holds a special position of international strength in scientific activities related to biogas energy, biorefining, agricultural emissions, lipid technology, polymer and membrane technology, protein engineering and biosynthesis. The Biological and Chemical Engineering department is part of the Faculty of technical sciences and have an active role in the Interdisciplinary Centres of WATEC (water treatment technologies), CBIO (circular bioeconomy), CiFOOD (food technology), iMAT (advanced materials), iLIFE (biophysics and imagining), iClimate (climate change).

What we offer

The department offers:

a well-developed research infrastructure, laboratories and pilot/demonstration scale processing facilities an exciting interdisciplinary environment with many national, international and industrial collaborators a research climate encouraging lively, open and critical discussion within and across different fields of research a work environment with close working relationships, networking and social activities a workplace characterised by professionalism, equality and a healthy work-life balance.

Place of work and area of employment

The place of work is Gustav Wides Vej 10, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark, and the area of employment is Aarhus University with related departments.

Contact information

For further information, please contact: Associate Professor, Menglin Chen, +45 20289506, menglin@bce.au.dk

Deadline

Applications must be received no later than 1st of April.

Application procedure

Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.

Letter of reference

If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.

Formalities and salary range

Technical Sciences refers to the

Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities .

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here . Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here .

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here .

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.