Postdoc (m/w/d), E13/100 %

We are looking for a scientist (Postdoc, m/w/d) who wants to decipher the fundamental stimuli that drive the diversification of activated T and NK cells into long-lived memory and short-lived effector cells. Our long-term goal is to employ these insights for the design of optimized vaccination strategies.

“ERC-Starting-Grant: Studying the regulation of lymphocyte stemness by fate mapping of single T and NK cells (SCIMAP)”

Our profile

Our mission is to better understand how immunological memory of T and NK cells develops in response to infection or vaccination. To answer this question, we have developed a unique set of approaches that allow us to study adaptive immune responses starting out from single naïve precursors both in vivo and in vitro. Within this ERC-Starting-Grant project, we will employ these to better understand how T cell immunity against chronic infection as well as memory-like immune responses of NK cells are generated and maintained. Moreover, we aim to identify the fundamental cellular properties that ultimately drive the diversification of a single lymphocyte into a phenotypically and functionally diverse offspring. To achieve the latter, we will employ continuous live-cell imaging within 2D and 3D environments to ultimately trace a complete developmental tree that spans from a single activated lymphocyte to the various developmental branches of its offspring.

Your profile

  • PhD degree in Immunology, Genetics, Cell Biology, Biology or Biochemistry with outstanding results
  • In-depths experience in molecular biology and immunological assays/techniques
  • Hands-on experience in continuous live cell imaging in vitro would be ideal
  • Experience with bioinformatics analysis tools (R/python) and imaging software such as Imaris is a plus
  • Enthusiasm for basic science, specifically for lineage specification and immunological memory
  • Excellent team spirit, presentation, scientific writing and communication skills


Your tasks

  • Set up of 2D and 3D in vitro environments for long-term continuous imaging of activated T and NK cells
  • Identify, develop and implement reporter systems to study cell fate decisions, intercellular communication and cell cycle dependent protein dynamics via continuous live cell imaging
  • Study the role of an 1) asymmetric first cell division, 2) quorum sensing in lymphocyte clusters and 3) cell cycle speed for differentiation into long-lived memory and short-lived effector lymphocytes
  • Find ways to integrate insights from continuous in vitro imaging with data gathered via single-cell fate mapping, single-cell RNA sequencing and RNA velocity analysis in vivo
  • Supervision of graduate students


We offer

  • Ambitious and innovation-oriented team committed to dissecting and understanding the development of T and NK cell memory/stemness for future translational approaches
  • Close collaborations with several laboratories at TUM and external partners
  • Well-equipped laboratory in our institute close to Munich city center
  • Full time position as scientist / PostDoc (m/w/d) starting as soon as possible, currently secured for 48 months (salary according to TV-L)


Application

Are you excited to take a direct look at the fundamental cellular properties shaping lymphocyte lineage diversification and the development of immunological memory? Great! We are looking forward to your email application until July 30th 2021 (CV, letter of motivation and references in one document). TUM seeks to increase the portion of female employees. Qualified females are, therefore, explicitly encouraged to apply. Severely disabled persons with essentially comparable qualifications will be preferentially hired. Further questions? We are happy to receive your email or phone call!

Contact: Dr. Veit Buchholz (TUM Junior Fellow) / +89 4140 4156 / veit.buchholz@tum.de /

https://www.professoren.tum.de/tum-junior-fellows/buchholz-veit(link is external)