Associate Researcher to the Center for Translational Genomics (CTG) (PA2021/2427)

Lund University was founded in 1666 and is repeatedly ranked among the world’s top 100 universities. The University has around 44 000 students and more than 8 000 staff based in Lund, Helsingborg and Malmö. We are united in our efforts to understand, explain and improve our world and the human condition.

The Faculty of Medicine is a part of Lund University, and is responsible for education and research within medicine and healthcare. Our academic programs are closely linked with the healthcare system and are firmly anchored in the faculty’s strong research tradition. Our research spans a broad field within experimental preclinical research, near-patient clinical research and health sciences research. The Faculty of Medicine, with its 1,800 employees and 2,700 students in Lund and Malmö, is a knowledge-intensive meeting place for students, teachers and researchers from all over the world.

The Department of Laboratory Medicine is one of six departments at Lund University’s Faculty of Medicine. We conduct leading research, both broad and specialised, within the field of laboratory medicine, focusing on the onset of disease and how we can improve diagnostics and treatment for patients. Some of our strongest areas with world-class research deal with cancer, genetics and blood.

The Research Group

The Center for Translational Genomics (CTG ) is a research infrastructure at the Faculty of Medicine, co-financed by Lund University, Region Skåne and SciLifeLab. The center has great expertise in various sequencing and genomics technologies, and seen from both a national and international perspective, the facility is at the technological forefront with access to very powerful sequencing instruments (e.g., Illuminas NovaSeq, as well as instruments for long-read sequencing) and a number of single-cell methodologies. For computations, the center uses a dedicated cluster at the Lund University high-performance computing cluster (LUNARC).

CTG develops and offers researchers expert knowledge and services based mainly on the next generation sequencing (NGS) technology and works closely together with the Center for Molecular Diagnostics (CMD), Region Skåne, to translate research findings into improved clinical diagnostics and healthcare. Together with CMD, CTG also constitutes a facility (Clinical Genomics Lund) within the national research infrastructure SciLifeLab and is one of the drivers behind the national precision medicine initiative Genomic Medicine Sweden .

Currently CTG has just over 10 employees with a strong expertise primarily in NGS and bioinformatics, and the facility has recently moved into the new research infrastructure cluster at the BMC D-building in Lund.

CTG is now looking for an experienced, driven and results-oriented associate researcher, who enjoys working in a dynamic team in a rapidly developing field. The position is a full time permanent position starting October 1, 2021, or according to agreement.

Work duties and area of expertise

In this role, your main responsibilities will be to drive the development of novel spatial tissue analysis methodologies (e.g. based on the 10X Genomics Visium platform) as well as to perform single-cell NGS service projects. The work duties in this position will include practical work on state-of-the-art single-cell (e.g. iCell8cx, 10X Chromium) and sequencing platforms (e.g. NovaSeq 6000). Furthermore, the tasks will include establishment of spatially resolved sequencing technologies at CTG, in part through collaborations with similar platforms at Lund University, as well as to provide consultation to enable spatial tissue analyses for researchers. The role also includes continuous improvement and standardization of existing analysis methods (e.g. single-cell applications, tissue preparation and microscopy), advisory meetings with researchers or other users of the facility in association with different types of service projects as well as administration of service projects.

The work within CTG will be highly team-oriented, both through internal and external collaborations, which necessitates excellent collaboration and communication skills to successfully fill this position. External collaborations may for example involve local researchers from Lund University (e.g. SpatialOmics platform) or Region Skåne and on a national level with partners within the SciLifeLab or GMS communities.

The main work duties are:

• Development and implementation of new methods for NGS-based spatial tissue analysis
• Implementation of fluorescence microscopy and histological analyses at CTG
• Performing state-of-the-art single-cell sequencing experiments on different commercial platforms
• Providing expertise and advice to researchers and other facility users in connection to different service and development projects (single-cell and spatial tissue analysis-related)
• Different types of administrative assignments, such as documentation and reporting of service activities
• Responsibility for internal and external projects within NGS-based spatial tissue analysis as well as establishment of network within this field

Qualifications

The position requires:

• Master's degree in molecular biology, biomedicine or equivalent
• Doctoral degree in a relevant research field (e.g. molecular biology, genomics or equivalent)
• Very good knowledge about, and documented practical experience of work with next generation sequencing (NGS) technology
• At least 4 years of practical experience of working with molecular biology methods (e.g. cDNA synthesis, PCR/qPCR, RNA/DNA analysis)
• Very good oral and written communication skills in English

Great emphasis will be placed on personal suitability. You must have the ability to quickly familiarize yourself with new methods and establish new protocols. You must also have excellent communication and collaboration skills as well as be able to conduct your work independently and with high quality while meeting set deadlines. Finally, you must demonstrate excellent planning, structural and prioritization skills.

The following are merits for the position:

• Experience in NGS library preparation (e.g. Illumina DNA Prep, Nextera XT, DLP+)
• Experience in NGS-based Illumina sequencing (e.g. NovaSeq 6000)
• Experience in single-cell transcriptomics or other sequencing-based single-cell technologies
• Experience with commercially available single-cell analysis platforms (e.g. 10X Chromium, inDrop, iCell8cx)
• Documented practical experience within histological tissue analysis and/or fluorescence microscopy
• Experience with long-read sequencing technologies and related data analysis
• Experience with automation of lab procedures and liquid handling systems
• Previous project manager experience
• Good oral and written communication skills in Swedish

Instructions for your application

The application must contain a personal letter describing how you fulfill the desired qualifications, a CV and diploma.

Other

The university applies individual salary setting. Please indicate your salary claim in your application.