Postdoctoral research fellow in Eating Disorders Genetics

The Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MEB) is among the largest departments of epidemiology in Europe with special focus on increasing our knowledge of the aetiology of different diseases. Our department consists of researchers, doctoral students, biostatisticians, data collectors and database administrators as well as administrative personnel, in total some 250 staff. The department is situated at campus Solna. Further information can be found at ki.se/meb



Division
The Centre for Eating Disorders Innovation (CEDI) at MEB was established under the auspices of the Swedish Research Council.

We are dedicated to applying novel and emerging methodologies and technologies to elucidate causal mechanisms underlying eating disorders. 


Duties
The overarching goal of CEDI is to discover how the genome, the microbiome, and the environment act and interact to modify the risk for eating disorders. Our studies aim to discover the molecular and cellular mechanisms that are involved in these processes.

The postdoctoral fellow will be deeply involved with analyses associated with the Eating Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. In addition, GWAS available data from the Anorexia Genetics Initiative (ANGI) includes genotype and phenotypic information from 4000 cases with anorexia nervosa and 4000 healthy controls in Sweden. We have deep phenotypic information from all participants, in addition to genome-wide Illumina GRA array data. In-depth and large-scale studies of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder are also in progress at the center.

The postdoctoral projects will focus on genome-wide association studies of deep phenotypic information in eating disorders, and studying the effect of background polygenic risk burden on the co-morbidity profiles in individuals with eating disorders. Post-doctoral fellows will also be encouraged to develop their own research ideas.


Entry requirements
A person is eligible for a position as postdoctoral research fellow if they have obtained a PhD no more than seven years before the last date of employment as a postdoc.

Applicants should have a PhD degree in epidemiology, biostatistics, bioinformatics, statistical genetics, or genetics, as well as substantial experience in high-level analysis of preferably multiple types of modern genomic datasets (e.g., genome-wide association). Experience in analyzing other types of omics data such as RNA-seq, exome sequencing, or metabolomic data is desirable. Modern genomics also requires proven skills in programming (e.g., R, python, SAS, bash/unix), use of standard software packages (e.g., PLINK, IMPUTE/MACH, GATK, PRSice), flexibly manipulating large datasets, bioinformatic integration, use of high-performance computational clusters, knowledge on polygenic risk score analyses, or similar knowledge. Specific knowledge of psychiatric genomics (particularly for eating disorders) is highly desirable.

The applicant should be highly collegial, experienced in working in “team science” contexts, possess exceptional organizational skills, know how to successfully multitask, and should be able to describe past examples of having developed structured approaches to solving unanticipated and complex problems. Excellent oral and written communication skills in English are required, along with ample experience with writing and publishing research articles in English.

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

- A complete curriculum vitae, 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 previous work with individuals with eating disorders
- A summary of experience with in high-level analysis, programming, bioinformatic integration, and pathway analysis. 
- Verification from the thesis defence committee or the equivalent (only if the thesis defence is scheduled within three months after the application deadline)
The application is to be submitted on the MyNetwork recruitment system


Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading medical universities. Its vision is to significantly contribute to the improvement of human health. Karolinska Institutet accounts for the single largest share of all academic medical research conducted in Sweden and offers the country’s broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet selects the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.
Pursuant to the regulations of the Swedish National Archives, applications are kept on file for two years after the appointment has gained legal force. The regulations do not apply to attachments that have been printed or otherwise published.
Karolinska Institutet strives to provide a workplace that has approximately the same number of women and men, is free of discrimination and offers equal opportunity to everyone.

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