Postdoc Fellow: Mechanisms of lipid nanoparticle cargo delivery

Postdoctoral Fellow: Mechanisms of lipid nanoparticle cargo delivery

Gothenburg, Sweden

Are you a passionate cell biology expert? Would you like to apply your knowledge and develop marketable skills by working with the rapidly developing therapeutic area of nucleotide drug delivery and nanoparticles? Then this postdoc opportunity at AstraZeneca might be the one for you!



About the Postdoc Programme:

Bring your expertise, apply your knowledge, follow the science, and make a difference. AstraZeneca's Postdoc Programme is for self-motivated individuals looking to deliver exciting, high-impact projects in a collaborative, engaging and innovative environment. You'll work with multidisciplinary scientific teams from a diverse set of backgrounds and a world-class academic mentor specifically aligned to your project. Our postdocs are respected as specialists, encouraged to speak up, and supported to share their research at conferences, publish papers, achieve their goals and make a difference to our patients.

This is a 3-year programme, with an initial 2-year period and 1-year merit-based extension.



About the Opportunity:

New therapeutic modalities such as oligonucleotide drugs (e.g siRNA, mRNA) are exciting modalities with the potential to treat diseases that are 'undruggable' by standard small molecule approaches. These oligonucleotide modalities need delivery vehicles (such as lipid nanoparticles) for efficient delivery to cellular sites of action. In Advanced Drug Delivery, we are actively exploring and developing these delivery vehicles to improve the efficacy of oligonucleotide therapeutics.

Nucleotide-based drugs are dependent upon endosomal escape to achieve efficient cellular delivery, this postdoc position will focus on furthering our understanding of how this process occurs, how we can thoughtfully design nanoparticles to improve this process, and the future development of nucleotide-based therapeutics.

As a postdoc you will be responsible for designing and driving experiments, developing hypotheses and critically evaluating novel ideas for studying endosomal escape. Including:

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cell assay development compatible with high throughput methods
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work with laboratory automation (including robotic microscopy and automated image analysis), as well as multivariate analysis and visualisation of large datasets
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work with nanoparticle formulation and characterisation

As part of the Advanced Drug Delivery department, you will be supported and supervised by Dr Michael Munson (Senior Scientist) and Dr Alan Sabirsh (Principal Scientist) and receive academic mentorship from Dr Elin Esbjörner (Associate Professor, Chalmers University). There will also be opportunities to collaborate with other Swedish universities such as Chalmers, Gothenburg University and Karolinska Institute, as a part of the industrial-academic consortium FoRmulaEx. You will join a dynamic bioscience team, interested in improving the nanoparticle delivery of nucleotide drugs.



Qualification, Skills & Experience:



Essential Requirements

We are looking for a candidate with a track record of scientific excellence, a strong collaborative mindset and phenomenal communication skills (English written & spoken) who has:

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A PhD with specialisation in Cell Biology, Biochemistry or Nanotechnology
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Excellent knowledge of endocytosis and intracellular trafficking pathways
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Extensive vitro cell culture experience, and methodologies for cell line generation (molecular biology) and characterisation
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Wide experience of cellular-based assays and analysis techniques
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Experience of advanced microscopy methodologies and technical competence in image-analysis (e.g ImageJ, CellProfiler or Columbus)

Desirable Requirements

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Prior experience and/or knowledge of endosomal escape
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An enthusiasm for automation and high-throughput methodologies and willingness to learn
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Knowledge and/or prior experience of delivery vehicles and formulation, such as lipid nanoparticles
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Understanding of nucleotide-based therapeutics



Why Should You Apply?



This is a unique opportunity to gain insights into pharmaceutical R&D, have access to cutting edge high‑throughput equipment and methodologies and, be able to build your credentials with publications! You will be working at the forefront of nanoparticle delivery technologies and will gain broad and desirable competence and skills.

Your research will have a real, immediate impact on our projects and your work will benefit patients.

Ready for an exciting, rewarding challenge? Good, because we can´t wait to hear from you!



Advert Opens: October 13th 2022

Advert Closes: November 20th 2022



Where can I find out more?

Our Gothenburg site

AstraZeneca's Postdoc Programme

Life at AstraZeneca

Next Generation Therapeutics at AZ

FoRmulaEx