Postdoctoral Fellowship (04) at Umea University, Sweden

The Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society (WASP-HS) is a national research program in Sweden. The vision of WASP-HS is to foster novel interdisciplinary knowledge in the humanities and social sciences about AI and autonomous systems and their impact on human and social development. WASP-HS enables cutting edge research, expertise, and competence building in the humanities and social sciences. See https://wasp-sweden.org/research/wasp-hs/

This postdoctoral position will be affiliated with the WASP-HS Research Cluster entitled “AI Futures of Culture and Memory,” which is led by Uppsala University, Umeå University, Chalmers University of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Linnaeus University. The cluster is dedicated to exploring how artificial intelligence is transforming human culture and collective memory.

The cluster as a whole revolves around three interconnected themes. First, it examines the ways in which AI changes the perception, production, preservation, and interpretation of culture and memory, as well as its influence on creativity and the dynamics of human-machine interaction. Second, it investigates how collaborations driven by AI are reshaping creative professions and cultural institutions, while also addressing the legal, ethical, and infrastructural challenges that accompany these transformations. Third, the cluster investigates bias in AI systems that process cultural data and can create new speculative and featuring approaches.

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher in Medical Science to characterize and improve small molecules able to kill biofilm-forming Staphylococcus aureus and to identify their mechanism-of-action.

The laboratory is mainly interested in understanding how pathogenic bacteria cause infections, as well as killing such pathogenic bacteria or preventing their infection. In this project, we aim to identify small molecules able to kill the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus while being in a biofilm as well as understanding the mechanism-of-action and exact target molecule. Candidate molecules will be modified to increase potency and decrease toxicity before their activity will be tested in suitable model organisms.   

Part of the project will be carried out in collaboration with the biotech company QureTech Bio AB (www.quretech.com), located in Umeå, which will give you a possibility of gaining knowledge of drug development from an industrial perspective.

Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, which invade and replicate within red blood cells. Upon infection, the parasite cloaks itself in a protective vacuole, and parasite replication is intimately linked to membrane biogenesis and remodeling. The lipids required are derived from a combination of host scavenging, reassembly and parasite de novo synthesis, which in turn depend on extensive lipid metabolism and transport. The exact contribution of host-derived lipids and how they are transported into the parasite is not fully understood. Similarly, the mechanisms for moving lipids in-between membranes and between the two leaflets of the lipid bilayer remain to be resolved. 

This project will combine the genetic tractability of the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei (P. berghei) with established cutting-edge methods to study membrane dynamics and lipid transport in mammalian systems. The purpose is to resolve the molecular mechanisms that underpin lipid transport and membrane dynamics in malaria parasites. 

First, you will establish methods to label, track and image lipids at high resolution in P. berghei using super-resolution microscopy. Second, reverse genetics will be used to epitope-tag parasite lipid-transport proteins to determine protein localisation and to generate loss-of-function mutants to study the effect on lipid flow and metabolism. Finally, lipid-transport proteins and parasite membrane structures will be visualised at an ultrastructural level using cryo-correlative light electron microscopy (CLEM) combined with in situ cryo-electron tomography.

Traditional “bulk” analysis provides an average view of microbial populations, often masking the individual cell behaviors such as antibiotic persistence or rare virulence triggers that drive infection and pathogenesis. To address this, our project utilizes novel semi-permeable capsule technology, molecular barcoding, and high-dimensional data analytics to interrogate prokaryotic cells at the single-cell level.

The successful candidate will apply these tools to Yersinia and other bacterial species to investigate the molecular mechanisms behind adaptive responses. Yersinia serves as a key model due to its complex survival strategies and zoonotic potential, offering a unique opportunity to uncover single-cell drivers that conventional methods cannot detect.

Working within a multidisciplinary environment, the candidate will collaborate with various research groups, expand professional network and acquire advanced biochemical and computational skills. This project builds upon our team’s established expertise, including recent work published in Science. We invite applications from motivated candidates eager to contribute to the development of next-generation microbial technologies.