Postdoctoral Researcher in Adipocyte Cell Cycle Reactivation and Senescence

Karolinska Institutet (KI) · Solna, Sweden

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Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

The Department of Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB) is a department with a strong focus on basic science. CMB conducts research and education in cell biology, molecular biology, developmental biology, stem cell biology, cancer and infection biology. CMB is located in Biomedicum, a new interdisciplinary research center designed to concentrate much of the experimental research conducted at Karolinska Institutet Campus Solna under one roof to promote collaboration. Biomedicum houses approximately 1,200 researchers and other personnel and allows expensive equipment to be shared and utilised more effectively.

The Spalding research group investigates human adipose tissue biology, with a particular focus on how mature adipocytes respond to chronic overnutrition and hyperinsulinaemia. We recently discovered that, contrary to the long-held view that mature fat cells are permanently post-mitotic, human adipocytes can reactivate a cell cycle programme and senesce under conditions of chronic hyperinsulinaemia. Senescent adipocytes accumulate in obese adipose tissue, adopt a pro-inflammatory secretory phenotype, and are increasingly implicated in adipose tissue dysfunction and obesity-associated disease.

The group has established strong clinical collaborations within Sweden and abroad, ensuring high-quality access to human adipose tissue, and all necessary experimental platforms (imaging, flow cytometry, single-cell and bulk omics, proteomics) are available within the lab or in neighbouring core facilities. Research in the lab is supported by several funding bodies, including the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Research Council and the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Your mission

This postdoctoral project will investigate why and how mature human adipocytes re-enter the cell cycle in response to chronic hyperinsulinaemia, and why this process differs between adipose depots. The project builds on the group's discovery that insulin receptor (IR) signalling drives depot-specific cell cycle reactivation in subcutaneous adipocytes, and will address:

how IR signalling is transduced to drive cell cycle re-entry in mature, terminally differentiated adipocytes, and why this response is depot-specific.
how DNA synthesis is remodelled in reactivated adipocytes.
whether this maladaptive cell cycle remodelling can be therapeutically redirected, with a view to limiting the downstream senescence and inflammatory burden it generates.

The successful applicant will work directly with human adipose tissue biopsies and primary human adipocytes, combining cell and molecular biology with imaging-based and computational approaches to dissect this pathway. The position offers the opportunity to lead an independent line of investigation within a well-resourced group, to learn a broad range of advanced methods, and to participate in collaborations with academic and clinical partners in Sweden and internationally.

Your profile

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

Required and desirable qualifications:

Expertise in cell signalling and/or cell cycle biology, including protein-protein interactions.
Experience with immunocytochemistry/immunohistochemistry, time-lapse and confocal microscopy.
Strong computational and statistical expertise.
Background in adipose tissue biology, metabolism, senescence or DNA damage/replication biology is considered a strong advantage.
Experience with primary mammalian cell culture (experience with human adipose tissue an advantage).
Ability to work independently while contributing effectively within a collaborative group setting.
Good written and spoken English.

What do we offer?

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

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Application

An employment application must contain the following documents in English or Swedish:

PhD certificate
A complete resumé, including date of the thesis defence, title of the thesis, previous academic positions, academic title, current position, academic distinctions, and committee work
A complete list of publications
A summary of current work (no more than one page)

KI applies individual and differentiated salary setting in accordance with our collective agreements RALS and RALS-T

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

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