Postdoctoral position (2 years) in Metabolomics

A great opportunity for a postdoctoral candidate seeking to work in a strong research environment with excellent analytical resources and with a very high degree of independence! We are now recruiting a postdoctoral scientist to the Swedish Metabolomic Centre (SMC), a national facility that supports researchers active at Swedish universities with mass spectrometry-based analysis of metabolites and lipids in biological tissues and fluids and aims to be a leading knowledge center in metabolomics and related areas. Specialized personnel is working at SMC and the centre has mass spectrometry equipment such as GC -TOFMS, LC-QTOFMS and LC-TQMSMS. SMC is hosted within the UPSC and the postdoctoral position is going to be placed at the Department of Plant Physiology which is part of UPSC. Starting date 2023-09-01 or according to agreement.

Application deadline: May 12, 2023

Project description

The research project aims to uncover various aspects of the plant metabolome. The plant kingdom contains many highly specialized secondary metabolites, often specific for the species studied making metabolite and metabolomics analysis of plants challenging. Within this project, both targeted methods for specific metabolite pathways and untargeted methods using GC-TOFMS and LC-QTOFMS will be developed. The developed methods will be applied in ongoing biological projects in Arabidopsis, Populus, pine and Spruce in collaboration with the researchers at UPSC. The postdoctoral project will be focused on developing new methods for metabolites that UPSC researchers of great interest to UPSC researchers so the person hired will have to work in close collaboration with the researchers of UPSC.

Qualifications

To be appointed under the postdoctoral agreement, the postdoctoral fellow is required to have completed a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree. This qualification requirements must be fulfilled no later than at the time of the appointment decision. To be appointed under the postdoctoral agreement, priority should be given to candidates who completed their doctoral degree, according to what is stipulated in the paragraph above, no later than three years prior. If there are special reasons, candidates who completed their doctoral degree prior to that may also be eligible. Special reasons include absence due to illness, parental leave, appointments of trust in trade union organisations, military service, or similar circumstances, as well as clinical practice or other forms of appointment/assignment relevant to the subject area. Such circumstances should be clearly stated in the application.

The successful candidate should have a PhD degree in analytical chemistry, biochemistry or in a related field. The candidate should have a strong interest in research and be capable of developing the project independently and creatively. Good knowledge in chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis is necessary. We also require good English communication skills as English is the operative language at UPSC. It is meriting with experiences in LC-MS based metabolomics and metabolite analysis, as well as analysis of analytical biochemical data.

Application

The application should contain:

1. Personal letter that describes qualifications, research interest and motivation for application (maximum one A4 page),
2. Curriculum vitae (CV) with publication list,
3. Certified copy of doctoral degree certificate or equivalent, or documentation that clarifies when the degree of doctor is expected to be obtained
4. Certified copies of other diplomas, list of completed academic courses and grades
5. Copy of or link to doctoral thesis and up to five relevant scientific articles,
6. Other documents that the applicant wishes to claim.

The application must be written in English or Swedish. The application is made through Umeå Universities electronic recruitment system. Documents sent electronically must be in Word or PDF format. Log in to the system and apply via the button at the end of this page: https://www.umu.se/en/work-with-us/open-positions/postdoctoral-position-2-years-in-metabolomics_611177/.

The closing date is 2023-05-12.

Contact

Further details are provided from Annika Johansson, annika.johansson01@umu.se or Johannes Hanson, johannes.hanson@umu.se.

About the Research Environment

The Department of Plant Physiology is part of Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) which is a centre of excellence for experimental plant research and forest biotechnology in Northern Sweden. Our mission is to perform excellent and innovative basic research and generate knowledge that benefits forestry, agriculture, environment and society. We work across a wide range of disciplines in plant science reaching from cell biology to ecophysiology and from basic research to industrial applications. Our common goal is to understand the plants’ ability to grow, adapt and acclimate to a changing world and how we can breed better plants.

UPSC belongs to two universities, Umeå University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). About 200 people from more than 40 different nationalities work here. We host some 30 principal investigators, and our researchers have access to state-of-the-art analytical platforms, unique tree germplasm resources and plant growth facilities. We strive for a collaborative work environment and support our scientists throughout all career stages by providing professional training opportunities and individual career mentoring.

Umeå has a strong postdoc community organised in the Umeå Postdoc Society (UPS). UPS fosters networking amongst postdocs, organises social and career development events and works towards improving the postdoc experience in Umeå. Check out their website: https://umeapostdocsociety.se/ and do not hesitate to get in contact with them!