Postdoc Fellow: Nanoparticle Engineering - Designing the Corona

Gothenburg, Sweden

Do you have a passion for or experience with mass spectrometric analysis? Would you like to combine this with nanoparticles, large multiomics data sets, and machine learning? Then join us at AstraZeneca, gain the experience of working with innovative therapeutic nanomedicines and unlock the power of what science can do!



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' using small molecule drugs and, they are also enabling technologies like COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutic genome editing. These newer modalities need delivery vehicles (such as lipid nanoparticles) to get where they need to go inside cells. In Advanced Drug Delivery, we are actively exploring and developing these delivery vehicles to improve the efficacy of oligonucleotide therapeutics.

Nanoparticles that enter the body rapidly acquire a corona of biological molecules. This creates a new surface that controls how the particles move within the body, how they interact with cells and how they deliver their cargo - so it's important. Building on previous work and your expertise, we seek to understand how nanoparticle design and composition are related to corona content so that we can control this critical aspect of nanomedicine function.

We now have a dynamic and exciting Postdoctoral Fellow opportunity within our Advanced Drug Delivery department in Pharmaceutical Sciences. The main focus of this role is mass spectrometry, but you will also work with cell culture, automated nanoparticle formulation and characterisation, robotic microscopy, and data science methods related to multivariate analysis and machine learning (in particular various types of deep learning architectures).

You will be responsible for designing and driving experiments, developing hypotheses, and critically evaluating novel ideas. Publication is a key component of this role, both as the main author and as a co-author with other scientists. We enjoy what we do. As such you will be part of a hard-working, fun, and collaborative working environment.

You will be supported by Dr Alan Sabirsh, Principal Scientist of Advanced Drug Delivery at AstraZeneca, a team of internal co-supervisors with expert knowledge and, receive academic guidance and mentorship from two experienced external academic supervisors: Professor Fredrik Höök (leader of the FormulaEx nanomedicine consortium at the local Chalmers University of Technology) and Professor Molly Stevens from Imperial College London.



Qualification, Skills & Experience:

Essential Requirements

* PhD in Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Nanotechnology, or a related field
* Strong experience with proteomic mass spectrometry
* Proficiency in in-vitro cell culturing
* Experience with, or a willingness to learn about, nanomedicines and machine learning methodologies will be necessary
* A track record of scientific excellence and a strong collaborative attitude are both essential
* Excellent oral and written communication skills



Desirable Requirements

* Proven experience with lipidomics
* Experience with automated imaging and analysis (e.g., ImageJ, CellProfiler or Columbus)
* Previous experience with data science, coding, and neural networks
* Enthusiasm for laboratory automation and high-throughput methodologies
* Knowledge or experience of delivery vehicles and formulation, such as lipid nanoparticles
* A solid understanding of nucleotide-based therapeutics



Why Should You Apply?

You will be working at the forefront of nanoparticle delivery technologies and will gain broad and desirable competence at the intersection between nanomedicine, mass spectrometry and data science.

You will work in a proficient bioscience team within a multi‑disciplinary environment with deep experience. Additionally, you will be a member of the AstraZeneca postdoctoral community, a group of dedicated and supportive researchers, as well as work with our well-established network of very experienced academic nanomedicine partners.



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



Advert Opens: October 10th 2022

Advert Closes: November 13th 2022



Where can I find out more?

Our Gothenburg site: https://careers.astrazeneca.com/sweden

AstraZeneca's Postdoc Programme: https://careers.astrazeneca.com/postdocs-astrazeneca

Life at AstraZeneca: https://careers.astrazeneca.com/life-at-astrazeneca