Post-doctoral fellow in Immunosciences

Funded as a FNR-FWF WEAVE project, Dr. Annette Kuehn, Research Group “Molecular and Translational Allergology” at the Department of Infection and Immunity is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunosciences.

PROJECT

Food allergy is a major public health issue worldwide. Patients present with variable clinical profiles, disease progression and severity, which is part of the unpredictable nature of food allergy. There is a clear need to dissect the immune mechanisms underlying clinical food allergy. This will allow stratifying patients into mechanism-based endotypes considered vital for improving patient care and reducing the allergy burden. 

This project aims to advance the fundamental knowledge of food allergies. Novel approaches are needed for better understanding of the in-vivo cascade of allergic events, covering adaptive and innate immune responses, in order to identify clinically relevant key elements that correlate with clinical outcome in diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, the present project will address the in-vivo immune response in acute episodes of food allergy. We will focus on analyses of blood samples taken during oral food challenges with peanut and cashew nut, both main elicitors of food-induced anaphylaxis, to study functional immune changes in a longitudinal mode. Integrating those clinical and immune data will generate computational models to endotype patients and to decipher the allergic cascade of clinical food allergy. 

This project is built on a transdisciplinary consortium of food allergy experts from clinics, immune research and data science. This postdoctoral researcher position will be in a highly recognized and internationally visible research team, at the Department of Infection and Immunity (research group Dr. Annette Kuehn), LIH. The FNR-FWF WEAVE funded project will be in close collaboration with Dr Thomas Eiwegger, Research Group “Clinical Immunology” at the Karl-Landsteiner University, Austria.   

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES  

•  Plan, direct, and conduct specialized research experiments to understand immunological mechanism in the context of type2 immune responses
• Develop and coordinate flow cytometry experiments (research group A. Kuehn) in the context of a clinical study with the linked bioinformatics analysis
• Collaborate with international partners to achieve research goals
• Prepare manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals
• Present research findings at national and international conferences
• Train and co-supervise under- and post-graduate students and technicians   

KEY SKILLS, DEMONSTRATED EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS  

We are looking for a highly motivated, perseverant, organized, and flexible postdoctoral fellow, willing to work in a competitive, interdisciplinary, cooperative and international research project.   

• Ph.D. in Cell Biology, Immunology, or related field
• Experience with in vivo, ex vivo or in vitro human models
• Strong background and publication record in allergic disease and/or human immunology
• Hands-on experience in cytometry and sorting experience
• Good to have: experience with analyzing multidimensional immune data
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English      

For any further information please visit:  Dr. Annette Kuehn (PI of the project): https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0474-2135