Lab technician in neuroimmunology specialized in CRISPR-Cas9 technology

The University of Luxembourg aspires to be one of Europe’s most highly regarded universities with a distinctly international and interdisciplinary character. It fosters the cross-fertilisation of research and teaching, is relevant to its country, is known worldwide for its research and teaching in targeted areas, and is establishing itself as an innovative model for contemporary European Higher Education. The University`s core asset is its well-connected world-class academic staff which will attract the most motivated, talented and creative students and young researchers who will learn to enjoy taking up challenges and develop into visionary thinkers able to shape society.

Within the University, the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) is a highly interdisciplinary researchcentre (IC), integrating experimental biology and computational biology approaches in order to develop the foundation of a future predictive, preventive and personalized medicine.

The University of Luxembourg has the following vacancy at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB): Technician specialized in CRISPR-Cas9 technology

AREA:

Role of immune mechanisms in models of Alzheimer’s disease

DESCRIPTION:

The Neuroimmunology group, led by Prof. Michael Heneka, has started its activities at LCSB in early 2022. It focuses on the role of immune mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases, with a particular focus on Alzheimer’s disease. Michael Heneka has recently received a PEARL grant from the Fonds National de la Recherche in Luxembourg to study the role of microglia and tunneling nanotubes networks connecting microglia to neurons in Alzheimer’s disease and has for this project an immediate opening for a technician specialized in CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

The MINIALZ PEARL project aims to study the interaction of immune cells and neurons in the brain and to identify molecular mechanisms that can be harnessed for developing preventive, disease-modifying or acute therapeutic measures. MINIALZ will further identify early immune function and biomarker traits, in order to support diagnosis prior to clinical appearance. MINIALZ will be based on a new mechanism recently identified by the applicant’s group, by which microglia form a tunnelling nanotube network (TNTs) with neighboring neurons in order to free the latter from pathological proteins and ensure their function and survival. Preliminary data suggest that such microglia-neuron TNTs may contribute to neuronal survival in models of neurodegeneration and the involved mechanisms are defective in microglia carrying disease-associated AD risk mutations.