Laboratory technician in iPSC and organoid technology

Laboratory Technician in iPSC and Organoid Technology

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

You are welcome to join a new initiative to build a human multi-organ model of cardiometabolic disease. Working within an international consortium spanning Sweden, the USA and Denmark, we will establish induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from a genetically diverse panel of donors and use them to generate liver, adipose, cardiac and vascular organoids that can be connected and studied together. The aim is to understand why some people develop disease while others remain protected, and to test how genetic background shapes the response to treatment. This position sits at the centre of that effort, and we are looking for someone to lead the stem cell and organoid work in practice.

Your Mission

You will build up and take responsibility for our human iPSC bank. This includes reprogramming cells from human samples to generate new iPSC lines, characterising and quality controlling them, expanding and cryopreserving stocks, and keeping accurate and complete records of every line and passage. You will make sure that colleagues across the group and our partner laboratories have reliable, well documented cells to work with when they need them. Building on this resource, you will differentiate our lines into several different organoid types and establish these as robust, reproducible routines rather than one-off experiments. The role also involves substantial molecular biology, including nucleic acid extraction, PCR and quantitative PCR, genotyping and validation work, and preparing samples for downstream analysis. A central part of the position is teaching. You will train and support students, postdoctoral researchers and collaborators in these methods, write and maintain clear written protocols, and act as the person others come to for advice. You will work closely with the group leader to plan the introduction of new models, and you will contribute to the ordering, scheduling and day-to-day organisation that keeps this work running. The position has flexible working hours.

Your Profile

Requirements

• Applicants should hold a BSc, MSc or PhD in a relevant field, but for this position practical experience weighs heavy as well.
• Documented hands-on experience of routine human pluripotent stem cell culture is necessary, as is documented experience of deriving organoids or other three-dimensional differentiation models. Experience of generating iPSC lines from human samples, including reprogramming and line characterisation, is necessary.
• Solid molecular biology experience is also required, in particular nucleic acid extraction, PCR and quantitative PCR. Because these are long protocols with fixed schedules, we place particular weight on reliability, careful record keeping and the ability to work independently without losing attention to detail.

  Since you will be teaching students and postdoctoral researchers who come from a wide range of scientific backgrounds, and who will be learning these techniques from scratch, patience and a genuinely helpful and approachable manner are essential. The working language is English.

  Meritorious

  • Experience of establishing or managing a cell bank, and of training or supervising others in laboratory methods.
  • Experience of working with more than one organoid system, and of writing protocols or standard operating procedures.

    We are looking for someone who is collaborative, generous with their expertise and comfortable being a the go-to reference for the whole group.

    What Do We Offer?

    A creative and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. Our vision is to pursue the development of knowledge about life and to promote a better health for all. At Karolinska Institutet, we conduct successful medical research and hold the largest range of medical education in Sweden. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several good benefits through our collective agreement. And you get to practice freely in our modern wellness facilities, where trained staff are on site.

    Location

    The position is placed at the Department of Medicine, Solna. The department consists of ten divisions, and each division consists of several research groups. This position is placed in the Stephen Malin research group.

    Application

    KI applies individual and differentiated salary setting in accordance with our collective agreements RALS and RALS-T.

    The application is to be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system. In this recruitment, you will apply with your CV without a personal letter. Instead, you will answer some questions about why you are applying for the job in the application form.

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