Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Medical Biology

The position

Do you hold a PhD in molecular biology (or a related field) and have a strong interest in the molecular mechanisms underlying antibiotic resistance development? Are you motivated to conduct interdisciplinary research at one of the northernmost universities in the world? If so, this postdoctoral position may be of interest to you.

The Postdoctoral Research Fellow position is available at the Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, within the Host–Microbe Interaction (HMI) research group. The position is part of the LacZymes, led by Dr. Christopher Frøhlich, and entitled “Epistasis and Evolution of β-Lactamase-Mediated Antimicrobial Resistance.” The position is a fixed term position for a duration of 3 years. 

As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, you will have the opportunity to advance your scientific career and further qualify for academic positions. If you do not already have the educational competence that meets the requirements for an Associate Professor position in Norway, UiT will arrange such competence during the employment period.

The workplace is at UiT in Tromsø. You must be able to start in the position within a reasonable time after receiving the offer.

If you receive a personal overseas research grant from NFR it is possible to apply NFR for an extension of the fellowship period corresponding to the length of the stay abroad (minimum three months, maximum 12 months).

Unless special circumstances indicate otherwise, postdoctoral projects shall be planned with stays abroad. The duration should be at least 6 months.

The position's field of work

The successful candidate will join a newly funded Research Council of Norway (FUTURE-AMR) project and work closely with researchers and students to uncover molecular mechanisms of epistasis arising during the evolution of β-lactamases. To address these questions, the project integrates ancestral sequence reconstruction, directed evolution, pre-steady-state and steady-state enzyme kinetics, and X-ray crystallography. Candidates with experience in two or more of these areas are encouraged to apply.

The postdoctoral fellow will report to Dr. Christopher Frøhlich and is expected to actively contribute to advancing the field while developing expertise at the interface of molecular biology, enzymology, and evolutionary microbiology.

Duties of the position
The postdoctoral fellow will work on the following tasks:
• Manage your research project
• Experimental design and execution
• Perform directed evolution and selection
• Enzyme production and purification
• Biochemical enzyme characterization
• Write scientific papers
• Presenting your work in national and international arenas

Contact

For further information about the position, please contact Dr. Christopher Frøhlich:

• phone:  + 47 46968778 
• email: christopher.frohlich@uit.no

Qualifications

Required qualifications

• PhD in molecular biology, microbiology, biochemistry, or a related field. Candidates who have not yet defended their PhD must submit parts of your dissertation along with the application, and provide documentation from their supervisor confirming that the defense will be completed before the start of the position. 
• Experience in at least two of the following areas: directed evolution, protein expression and purification, biochemical characterization of enzymes, X-ray crystallography.
• Documented oral and written English skills.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience in the field of AMR and AMR mechanisms
• Hands-on experience in next generation sequencing and data analysis
• Knowledge of a Scandinavian language
• Experience in writing publications
• Experience in a biosafety level-2 lab environment

Personal characteristics
The applicant should be motivated, creative and ambitious, with a strong ability to work problem-solution orientated both in teams and independently. The applicant should be genuinely interested in the field of molecular evolution and AMR as well as scientific dissemination.

In the evaluation of which applicant is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience, and personal suitability, in terms of the qualification requirements specified in this position announcement. Emphasis shall also be attached to experience from popularization/dissemination and academic policy and administrative activity.

At UiT we put emphasis on the quality, relevance and significance of the research work and not on where the work is published, in accordance with the principles of The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

No person may hold more than one fixed term position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the same institution.

Inclusion and diversity  

UiT The Arctic University i Norway is working actively to promote equality, gender balance and diversity among employees and students, and to create an inclusive and safe working environment. We believe that inclusion and diversity is a strength, and we want employees with different competencies, professional experience, life experience and perspectives.  

If you have a disability, a gap in your CV or immigrant background, we encourage you to tick the box for this in your application. If there are qualified applicants, we invite least one in each group for an interview. If you get the job, we will adapt the working conditions if you need it. Apart from selecting the right candidates, we will only use the information for anonymous statistics. 

We offer

• A highly international, ambitious and friendly work environment
• A unique opportunity to get experience in a wide range of interesting research topics.
• Flexible working hours and a state collective pay agreement  
• Pension scheme through the state pension fund 

Norwegian health policy aims to ensure that everyone, irrespective of their personal finances and where they live, has access to good health and care services of equal standard. As an employee you will become member of the National Insurance Scheme which also include health care services.

More practical information for working and living in Norway can be found here: https://uit.no/staffmobility 

Application

Please note that the application will only be assessed based on the information submitted by the application deadline via Jobbnorge. It is therefore important that you include all necessary documents demonstrating your qualifications for the position.

Your application must include:

• Application letter
• CV
• Diplomas and transcripts (all degrees)
• Documentation of English proficiency. If English proficiency is not documented in the application, it must be documented before starting in the position.
• Contact information to 2-3 references
• Documentation of educational competence, if available
• Description of your academic production, stating which works you consider most important
• Academic works, up to ten. The doctoral thesis is regarded as one work.

If you're in the final stages of your PhD, you may still apply for the position, provided that you submit parts of your dissertation along with your application. This enables the evaluation committee to assess the quality and likelihood of completion by the desired employment date. You must include a statement from your supervisor or institution stating the expected completion date for your PhD degree. Documentation of your completed PhD degree must be submitted before commencement.

All documentation to be considered must be in a Scandinavian language or English. 

Assessment

The applicants will be assessed by an expert committee. The committee's mandate is to undertake an assessment of the applicants' qualifications based on the written material presented by the applicants, and the detailed description draw up for the position. A copy of the assessment report will be sent to all applicants. 

The applicants who are assessed as best qualified will be called to an interview. The interview should among other things, aim to clarify the applicant’s motivation and personal suitability for the position. A trial lecture may also be held.

General information

It is a prerequisite that the applicant can carry out the project over the full course of the employment period. 

In order to achieve a targeted use of the postdoctoral position, and to strengthen the employee’s career development, a development plan must be available no later than three months after the appointment contract is signed. The development plan must be approved by the immediate leader with personnel responsibility.

The appointment is made in accordance with State regulations and guidelines at UiT. At our website, you will find more information for applicants. 

The remuneration for Postdoctoral research fellow is in accordance with the State salary scale code 1352. A compulsory contribution of 2 % to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund will be deducted. You will become a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, which gives you many benefits in addition to a lifelong pension: You may be entitled to financial support if you become ill or disabled, your family may be entitled to financial support when you die, you become insured against occupational injury or occupational disease, and you can get good terms on a mortgage. Read more about your employee benefits at: spk.no.

The successful candidate must be willing to get involved in the ongoing development of their department and the university as a whole.

According to the Norwegian Freedom and Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.