Postdoctoral Fellow - Impact of HDAC6 Genetic Variants on Aggresome Assembly Sweden - Gothenburg

R-215657: Postdoctoral Fellow - Impact of HDAC6 Genetic Variants on Aggresome Assembly

Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Competitive Salary, Bonus & Benefits Package

Are you an expert in protein degradation and/or protein aggregation within cellular environments? Do you have a passion for investigating its role in various disease conditions? Join the Discovery Sciences department at AstraZeneca and unlock the power of what science can do!

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led, patient-centred biopharmaceutical company focusing on discovering, developing, and commercialising prescription medicines for some of the world’s most serious diseases. But we’re more than a global leading pharmaceutical company. At AstraZeneca, we're dedicated to being a Great Place to Work and empowering employees to push the boundaries of science and fuel their entrepreneurial spirit.

About our 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 projects in an encouraging, 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.

Make a more meaningful impact in your career, with greater ownership and accountability to make a contribution whilst making a difference to the lives of our patients!

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

About the Opportunity
Postdoctoral researchers are an important part to advance our scientific knowledge and thereby driving innovation at AZ. Our Postdoc program provides early-career researchers with an opportunity to work on exiting scientific projects while at the same time getting exposed and learn about the drug discovery process.

Join a project backed by the diverse expertise of AstraZeneca's Genomic Research, Protein Sciences, and Cell Biology teams within Discovery Sciences. This collaborative framework spans across AstraZeneca, from target identification to target validation, playing a crucial role in the drug discovery and development process.

As a member of our dynamic community, you'll engage in groundbreaking research, utilize cutting-edge technologies, and collaborate with a team of specialists dedicated to revolutionizing drug discovery and development. Together, we aim to deliver improved medicines to patients worldwide.

Project Focus
This project aims to pioneer research in understanding the functional implications of disease-relevant genetic variants of Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) in aggresome assembly and clearance of misfolded proteins. The Postdoctoral Fellow will collaborate with experienced interdisciplinary scientists at AZ, along with an exceptional academic mentor, to unravel the clinical significance of HDAC6's involvement in aggresome assembly. The focus will be on developing a deeper understanding of the role of HDAC6's ubiquitin binding domain and exploring the potential modulation of this target for drug development.

Supported by Pablo Gallego and Cristina Ferrás, both Senior Scientists at AstraZeneca, you will also enjoy the academic mentorship of Professor Patrick Matthias from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland.

What You’ll Do
You will play a pivotal role in a diverse set of activities central to the investigation of HDAC6 and aggresome formation. Your day-to-day responsibilities will span from protein to cell experiments data analysis and following the latest literature. You will benefit from collaborating closely with multidisciplinary teams to support this postdoctoral position.

Key Duties & Responsibilities:
- Perform in collaboration protein expression and purification, focusing on the HDAC6 ubiquitin binding domain, its variants and its binders
- Utilize in collaboration biophysical techniques such as Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) to study protein-protein interactions
- Conduct CRISPR knock-in experiments to reveal the phenotypic impact of endogenous gene mutants or variants in human disease
- Perform cell biology assays to explore protein aggregation, clearance, and aggresome formation across diverse cell lines
- Stay updated with the latest progresses in the field and contribute to the academic and scientific community through publications and presentations

Essential Requirements for the role

• A PhD degree (or equivalent) in biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, or a related field

• Proven experience with cell biology methods, in vitro cell based assays and cell imaging

• Familiarity with the mechanisms of protein degradation and/or protein aggregation

• Enthusiasm for interdisciplinary and collaborative work

Our Postdoc programme is aimed at individuals who are either:

• Within 5-years of obtaining their doctoral degree (PhD, DVM, or MD) - PhD already awarded, or

• Students, soon to obtain doctoral degrees (the PhD must be awarded within 6 months of joining AstraZeneca)

Desirable Requirements for the role

• Experience in research focused on aggresome assembly or HDAC6

• Experience or interest in one or more of the following techniques:
  - CRISPR for knock-in to reveal the phenotypic impact on an endogenous gene mutant or variant in human disease
  - Protein expression and purification
  - Biophysical techniques such as Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) for studying protein-protein interactions

• Excellent written and oral communication skills

• Strong planning, organizational and time management skills

Reasons to Apply
Our Gothenburg site is one of AstraZeneca's strategic science centres. We thrive in an international cross-functional environment across the globe with AZ colleagues as well as academic and industry partners.

You’ll be working and collaborating with a diverse team of industry-leading experts, expanding your cell biology skills and complementing them with knowledge from other disciplines. You will have access to state-of-the-art equipment and receiving mentorship from a distinguished academic supervisor in the field of aggresome assembly.

Why AstraZeneca

The unique positioning of this postdoc within a pharmaceutical company such as AZ, means that you will be able to access large datasets which are not available in the public domain. Moreover, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that methods and techniques you develop will not only be published but will also be used within AZ after the postdoc position concludes, in real-life projects - and that ultimately the work you do will directly impact patients’ lives!

On-Site Working

The position is located at our research site in Gothenburg, Sweden.

As a key member of a research group and taking a leading role on a Postdoctoral project, we expect regular attendance - a minimum of 3 days per week on the AstraZeneca campus. For laboratory-based scientists, this may be higher.

Given the unique positioning of our Postdoctoral researchers, you may have an additional opportunity to spend some time with an external academic mentor. In this instance, you may be required to spend some of your time working alongside them at their facility as driven by the research project.

Your flexibility to meet the needs of the research and the scope of the project is required and we also look to support you with flexibility in accordance with our standard work policies.

Next Steps

If your passion is science and you want to be part of a team that makes a bigger impact on patients’ lives, then there’s no better place to be.

This advert will be running from January 2, 2025 and, we welcome your application as soon as possible, but ahead of the scheduled closing date of January 31, 2025. In the event, that we identify suitable candidates ahead of the scheduled closing date, we reserve the right to close the vacancy earlier than published.

Find Out More

AZ's Postdoc Programme

Life at AstraZeneca

This is what we're made of

Date Posted

02-jan.-2025

Closing Date

31-jan.-2025

Our mission is to build an inclusive and equitable environment. We want people to feel they belong at AstraZeneca and Alexion, starting with our recruitment process. We welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of characteristics. We offer reasonable adjustments/accommodations to help all candidates to perform at their best. If you have a need for any adjustments/accommodations, please complete the section in the application form.