Postdoctoral Researcher to target mechanisms driving cancer cell growth

A postdoctoral position within the exciting field of gene regulatory networks in cancer is immediately available in the laboratory of Professor Jussi Taipale who heads research groups at Karolinska Institutet, University of Cambridge and University of Helsinki. This position is based at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet.

The laboratory focuses on the study of transcriptional control of cell growth, using functional genomics and systems biology and as such the research groups consist of both experimental biologists and computer scientists. Current lines of work include high-throughput determination of binding sites and binding specificities of human transcription factors, using this information to identify regulatory elements that control cell growth during normal development or in cancer and validation of identified elements using cultured cells and mouse genetic models (see for example Hallikas et al., Cell 124:47-59, 2006; Kivioja et al., Nature Methods 9:72-74, 2011; Sur et al., Science 338:1360-1363, 2012; Jolma et al., Cell 152:327-339, 2013; Yan et al., Cell 154:801-813, 2013; Jolma et al., Nature 527:384-388, 2015; Yin et al., Science 356: eaaj2239, 2017; Zhu et al., Nature 562: 76-81, 2018; Jolma et al., Genome Research 30: 962-973, 2020; Yi et al., Nature Methods 17: 685-688, 2020; Yan et al., Nature 591: 147-151, 2021, Pihlajamaa et al., Nature Biotechnology, 2022 online ahead of print). The applicant benefits greatly from knowledge and expertise of a lab working at the cutting edge of science.

More information about lab: https://www.taipalelabs.org/

The goal of the project is to identify genes that are important for controlling growth of a cancer cell and targeting them using small molecules and/or CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering.

To be eligible for employment as a postdoctor a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed to be equivalent to a doctoral degree is required. This eligibility requirement must be fulfilled at the latest at the time of the employment decision. It is considered as an advantage if you have completed your doctoral degree within the last three years, if there are special reasons, your degree may have been completed earlier.

We are looking for a candidate with a doctoral degree in Systems Biology, Molecular Biology, Biological engineering, Medicine or similar. The successful candidate should be highly motivated, have excellent skills in lab work and familiar with computational analysis of large sets of data. Bioinformaticians who are interested in working in an inter-disciplinary environment are also encouraged to apply. Applicants must be able to work independently and have good communication skills in English. 

A creative and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. At Karolinska Institutet, we conduct successful medical research and hold the largest range of medical education in Sweden. At KI, you get to meet researchers working with a wide range of specialisms and methods, giving you ample opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience with the various scientific fields within medicine and health. It is the crossover collaborations, which have pushed KI to where it is today, at the forefront of global research. Several of the people you meet in healthcare are educated at KI. A close relationship with the health care providers is important for creating groundbreaking top quality education and research. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several benefits through our collective agreement.

Location: Solna, Biomedicum

Choose to work at KI – Ten reasons why

An employment application must contain the following documents in English:

• One page cover letter
• A two page CV including list of major publications (reference only, no abstracts or full papers)
• Two letters of recommendation, 1-2 pages each

Welcome to apply at the latest 2023-02-17

The application is to be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system.