Three Postdoc positions for 3 years in stem cell-based disease…

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW) at University of Copenhagen is looking for three postdoc fellows to join the Human Neural Development group led by PI Agnete Kirkeby. The positions are scheduled to commence on 1 April 2023 or in the following months, as upon agreement with each chosen candidate. The positions as Postdoc are for 3 years.

Research group

The Human Neural Development research team is located at the The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW) at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences of University of Copenhagen. Our group works to develop stem cell transplantation therapies for neurodegenerative disorders by producing high-purity cultures of subtype-specific human neural cells in the lab for preclinical and clinical studies. Our work has a strong translational focus, and we build our research on decade-long experience in clinical translational from bringing the first European pluripotent stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s Disease into clinical trial . In addition to projects on developing novel stem cell transplantation therapies for diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Lewy Body dementia and narcolepsy, we further apply advanced stem cell technologies to study normally inaccessible stages of human brain development as well as to produce in vitro disease models of human brain diseases (i.e. for Parkinson’s Disease, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease and hypothalamic disorders).

We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in a dynamic and highly international research environment. Our team currently consists of 16 team members at University of Copenhagen + 3 team members in our sister group at Lund University, representing a total of 12 different nationalities. Our labs at University of Copenhagen are located in a newly established Center for stem cell medicine (reNEW ), placed in modernised research facilities and include state-of-the-art laboratories, pleasant office facilities and access to high-quality core facilities in transcriptomics, imaging, flow cytometry and proteomics.

You can read more about the team here . You can also watch a short movie about the Kirkeby group research, or see a documentary about the work to develop a stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s Disease.

Job description

We are seeking 3 highly motivated and ambitious postdoctoral candidates with a strong educational background in the fields of stem cell biology, neuroscience, bioinformatics or similar fields. The candidates will work on three different projects with separate tasks and requirements, as outlined below:

Project 1: Stem cell-based disease modelling of schizophrenia

This candidate will enter into a consortium research project studying key protein networks involved in schizophrenia pathology through the use of complex human stem cell models of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. The candidate will during the project collaborate with other partners in the research consortium, including Prof. Kasper Lage of the Broad Institute and Prof. Thomas Werge from the Sct Hans Hospital of Mental Health. More information on the research consortium can be found here . The candidate will apply patient-derived iPSCs, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and complex neural culturing techniques to uncover how mutations in central GWAS-identified schizophrenia-associated protein networks impact on excitatory and inhibitory neuronal function. The overall purpose of this work is to understand the link between gene mutations found in GWAS studies of schizophrenia patients and their mechanistic correlation to neuronal function and disease pathology.

The technologies you will apply in Project 1 are:

• Derivation of patient-derived iPSCs and validation of the quality of the cell lines


• Culturing and subtype-specific neural differentiation of hiPSCs and hESCs


• CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in hiPSCs and hESCs


• Assessment of neuronal subtypes in the dish through qRT-PCR and immunocytochemistry


• Assessment of neuronal function and neuronal network activity through multi-electrode array (MEA) analysis on complex mixed neuronal cultures


• Performing single cell RNA sequencing (10X platform) and working with bioinformaticians on analysing the data

Key criteria for the assessment of applicant for Project 1:

The following requirements for the candidate will be assessed as key criteria for the recruitment.

Mandatory requirements:

• Master’s degree related to the subject area of the project e.g., Biology, Biomedicine, Biotechnology, Human Biology, Bioinformatics/data science or similar


• PhD degree in the field of stem cell biology, neuroscience, brain development or schizophrenia research


• Prior experience in hiPSC derivation or other reprogramming technologies


• Prior experience in stem cell culturing and neural differentiation or working with neuronal cell cultures


• Prior experience in cloning and gene editing


• Fluency in English, written and spoken.

Positively assessed criteria:

• Prior experience in qRT-PCR, ICC and confocal imaging


• Prior experience in automated image analysis


• Prior experience in single cell RNAseq (wet lab and bioinformatic analysis)


• Prior experience in working with assessment of neuronal connectivity, synapse formation or neuronal function (i.e. electrophysiology or MEA)

Project 2: Transplantation-based stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative diseases

This candidate will enter into several research projects aiming to perform in vivo testing of  novel stem cell-based transplantation therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. The position will involve both testing of improved versions of stem cell therapies for Parkinson’s disease as well as testing of stem cell transplantations in a narcolepsy model. The project will further involve in vivo functional testing of hypo-immune “stealth” cell lines to assess the clinical translational value of such universal gene-edited stem cell lines.

The technologies you will apply in Project 2 are:

• Intracerebral stereotactic stem cell implantation to brains of nude rats


• Behavioural testing: motoric and cognitive analyses in rats


• Immunohistochemistry, microscopy and automated image analysis


• Connectivity analysis through viral labelling


• Single nuclear RNAseq and spatial transcriptomic analysis of graft composition.

Key criteria for the assessment of applicant for Project 2

The following requirements for the candidate will be assessed as key criteria for the recruitment.

Mandatory requirements:

• Master’s degree related to the subject area of the project e.g. Biology, Biomedicine, Biotechnology, Human Biology, Bioinformatics/data science or similar


• PhD degree in the field of stem cell biology, neuroscience or similar


• Prior experience in intracerebral stereotactic surgery and behavioural testing in rodents


• FELASA certificate for working with animals


• Fluency in English, written and spoken.

Positively assessed criteria:

• Prior experience in rodent surgery


• Prior experience in immunostaining and confocal microscopy


• Prior experience in automated image analysis


• Prior experience in single cell RNAseq or spatial transcriptomics


• Prior experience in working with viral vectors


• Prior experience in RNA extraction and qRT-PCR

Project 3: Bioinformatic analysis of neural stem cell lineages and identities in vitro and in vivo

This candidate will be responsible for bioinformatic single cell RNAseq (scRNAseq) analysis of differentiating human neural cells, harvested both in vitro as well as from long-term matured grafts in rats. The aim is to apply such analysis to uncover human neural lieage trajectories and the compositions of human neural stem cell transplants. The main tasks of the position will be bioinformatic analyses, but combination with wet lab experiments will be possible, depending on the skills and wishes of the candidate.  You will be working on projects together with other team members and we therefore expect experience in working in teams.

The technologies you will apply in Project 3 are:

• Analysis of single cell and single nuclear RNA sequencing datasets from raw sequence reads to clustering and annotation


• Application of publicly available trajectory and pseudotime algorithms (e.g. SCENIC, SPRING, Pseudotime, RNA velocity and deconvolution of barcodes) towards studying cell/tissue subtype specification, lineage trajectories, cell differentiation/maturation.


• Spatial transcriptomics on human neural grafts to assess graft composition


• In vitro and in vivo barcoding studies.

Key criteria for the assessment of applicant for Project 3

The following requirements for the candidate will be assessed as key criteria for the recruitment.

Mandatory requirements:

• Master’s degree in bioinformatics, computer sciences or equivalent fields


• PhD degree in stem cell biology, bioinformatics, biology or biomedicine.


• Prior experience from working on biology/life science projects


• Prior experience in working with single cell RNA sequencing data, including application of algorithms for clustering and lineage trajectories


• Extensive programming skills in R and Python


• Fluency in English, written and spoken.

Positively assessed criteria:

• a mixed undergraduate background with a BSc in biology/biomedicine/life science combined with a MSc in Bioinformatics/data science.


• Prior experience in stem cell culturing and differentiation


• Prior experience in running 10X analysis and preparing libraries for sequencing.


• Prior experience in analysing datasets with cellular barcodes

For all three positions it is expected that the candidate will perform an independent research project with a high degree of autonomy in project planning, that you positively embrace collaborations with other team members on your own project as well as the projects of your colleagues, and that you contribute actively to a pleasant work environment within the group. A strong academic track record with a productive publication list and positive reviews from previous supervisors, collaborators or mentors will also weigh strongly in the assessment.

Terms of salary, work, and employment:

The successful candidates will be offered a full-time position for a total of 3 years as a postdoctoral fellow.

Position:                             3 Postdoc positions, full-time, 3 years

Start:                                   1/4-2023 or upon agreement

Application deadline:        24 January 2023, 23.59pm CET

Salary and other terms and conditions of appointment are set in accordance with the Agreement between the Ministry of Finance and AC (Danish Confederation of Professional Associations) or other relevant professional organization. Currently, the monthly salary starts at DKK 35,728 /approx. EUR 4,795 (October 2022-level). Depending on qualifications, a supplement may be negotiated. The employer will pay an additional 17.1 % to your pension fund.

Candidates from abroad may be eligible to reduced tax payment, according to the Special Tax Scheme for Researchers. More information about this can be found here: https://ufm.dk/en/research-and-innovation/cooperation-between-research-and-innovation/researchers-mobility/the-special-tax-scheme-for-researchers

The position is covered by the Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities 2020.

Application procedure

Your application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format:

Contact information:

For questions about the project and group, please contact the principal supervisor: Associate Professor Agnete Kirkeby, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine e-mail: [email protected] phone: +45 5168 5353.

Application deadline:  24 January 2023, 23.59pm CET

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

Assessment procedure

After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement. Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

The applicant will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities. You can read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

Apply for position

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.