PhD student in bioprinting

Uppsala University is a comprehensive research-intensive university with a strong international standing. Our ultimate goal is to conduct education and research of the highest quality and relevance to make a long-term difference in society. Our most important assets are all the individuals whose curiosity and dedication make Uppsala University one of Sweden’s most exciting workplaces. Uppsala University has over 45,000 students, more than 7,000 employees and a turnover of around SEK 7 billion.

The Department of Medical Cell Biology at Uppsala University has a strong and international research environment with over 100 scientists, including around 25 PhD students, 30 postdocs and researchers and 20 professors.

Duties/Project description: Bioprinting of defined extracellular matrices containing cells represents a novel approach to create tissues, and 3D-bioprinted tissue models will in the future likely replace many existing 2D cell culture models currently used in academia and industry. Further, bioprinting of tailor-made cartilage and bone implants containing patient-specific cells has the potential to greatly improve reconstructive surgery. The goal of this project is to develop and use 3D bioprinting to create cartilage and bone constructs using clinically relevant human chondrocyte cell lines and osteoblast cell lines. Bioprinted constructs will also be generated where materials are included to provide unique properties to promote cell function. Bone and cartilage tissue constructs will initially be evaluated in vitro where fluidic technology will be used to enable long-term cell culture, and live imaging performed to evaluate cell viability and tissue construct stability and remodeling over time. Large scale-imaging will be performed of construct arrays, together with a variety of cellular, biochemical and mechanical end point analyses, to generate data on the functionality and robustness of the developed constructs.

The project will be carried out within the BioTrib Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Network, which is a recently started EU-funded project coordinated by the University of Leeds. The BioTrib program is dedicated to training early-stage researchers to provide them with the technical and innovation skills to develop advances in the performance of natural and artificial joints. The network consists of 5 core universities in Europe, and another 11 partner organisations from academia and industry. The successful candidate will be based in Associate Professor Johan Kreuger’s research group at the Dept. of Medical Cell Biology at Uppsala University.  The position includes secondments to other partners in the consortium.

The successful candidate will engage in research work and doctoral studies. Other duties at the department, i.e. administration and teaching, may be included in the employment up to a maximum level of 20%.