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Open position: Three quantitative multidisciplinary postdoctoral fellowships

Three quantitative multidisciplinary postdoctoral fellowships (2 years)

The Integrated Science Lab (IceLab) (icelab.se) jointly with several departments at Umeå University and SLU offer three postdoctoral scholarships that will be affiliated with one of six possible multidisciplinary projects.

The ideal postdocs will have mathematical and computational modeling expertise and a deep interest in working with empirical researchers.

Application deadline: 20 September 2022.

A new way to detect infection

Tadala et al Cell Reports 2022 1 forwebsite

Coloured electron microscopy image of a nascent plasma membrane ruffle enclosing a bacterium which invades an intestinal epithelial cell. Sample: Lalitha Tadala; Image acquisition: Ramón Cervantes-Rivera; Artistic rendering: Atin Sharma. MIMS, Umeå University.

Press release – 10 August 2022, Umeå, Sweden

A new way to detect infection

The immune system is under the constant challenge of specifically detecting dangerous microbes to remove them. Dr. Andrea Puhar and her team at The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) at Umeå University, discovered that gut cells sense harmful bacteria through the mechanical force exerted on their cell surface during bacterial invasion. A protein called PIEZO1, which is able to sense mechanical signals, is necessary to detect invading bacteria. Activation of PIEZO1 during infection triggers a protective immune response. The study is now published in the scientific journal Cell Reports.

Open position: Postdoc in machine learning

Postdoc in Machine Learning: Semantic analysis of single-cell data
Single-cell analysis is the current state of the art in biology - tissue samples such as cancer can be separated into individual cells, which are then measured at depth using sequencing. Enormous amounts of data are produced, enabling precise investigation of the content of the tissue. The bottleneck is now the researcher, and exploring a single dataset can take up to one year.

Open position: PostDoc Project in In vivo efficacy and mode of action of novel antimicrobials acting against intracellular bacteria

The Sixt lab at MIMS is looking for a postdoc to join the group and advance them at the field of Chlamydia research.

Project: The extensive use of broad-spectrum antibiotics is a major aggravator of the alarming spread of antimicrobial resistances. Moreover, it impacts patient health negatively by its devastating collateral effects on the microbiota. Hence, there is an urgent need for more selective treatment options. Using an innovative antimicrobial discovery approach, we have recently identified a set of compounds displaying narrow-spectrum activity against Chlamydia, a group of obligate intracellular bacteria that every year causes millions of cases of urogenital, ocular, and respiratory infections. The purpose of this project is to determine in vivo efficacy and selectivity of our most potent compounds, and to determine their molecular targets and mode of interference with the intracellular growth and development of the pathogen.

Applications are possible from now until a suitable candidate was found. Starting date: preferentially between late 2022 and early 2023 (can be negotiated).

MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Debojyoti Das

Written by Nóra Lehotai and Debojyoti Das.

I had a chat with Debojyoti Das, a senior research assistant in the Bushell lab. He joined MIMS in January 2020 and since then he is balancing his time between different countries, traveling to visit his wife who has recently joined as an assistant professor in their home country, India.

Spotlight DD 1