Three Postdoc positions for 3 years in stem cell-based disease modelling, transplantation therapy and bioinformatic at Kirkeby's Lab @ Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW) at University of Copenhagen

The Kirkeby Lab is 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 the following three different projects:

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.

Project 2: Transplantation-based stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative disease
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.

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.

For more information on Terms of salary, work, and employment, application procedure and contact information visit the dedicated page of the Job Portal of University of Copenhagen