Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?
To be a doctoral student means to devote oneself to a research project under supervision of experienced researchers and following an individual study plan. For a doctoral degree, the equivalent of four years of full-time doctoral education is required.
The research group
This position is based in Peter Svensson’s research group at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), Karolinska Institutet, in the Centre for Infectious Medicine (CIM). We study the HIV reservoir, especially host-virus interactions and mechanisms behind persistent viral activity despite effective antiviral therapy. We have particular focus on persistence of infected cells, epigenetic context and transcription of the provirus, using novel methods to characterize viral genomes, their integration sites and transcriptional activity. The research environment is collaborative and translational, combining patient-oriented questions with advanced molecular methods, sequencing, and bioinformatics. The doctoral student will work in a small and interactive team and collaborate closely with other researchers and students within CIM, MedH, and Karolinska Institutet.
The doctoral student project and the duties of the doctoral student
The project is focused on the HIV reservoir research, with a particular emphasis on characterization of HIV RNA/DNA in primary material as well as model cells using Oxford Nanopore sequencing and complementary molecular and computational approaches. The doctoral student will help develop, optimize, and apply workflows for long-read sequencing of HIV sequences, analysis of viral sequence diversity, and interpretation of data to connect basic research and clinical reality. The work will combine experimental and analytical components and will be carried out in close interaction with another PhD student in the group who has a stronger wet-lab focus on reservoir biology, cell culture, and intact/defect virus production.
Duties include planning and performing laboratory work, contributing to optimization of sequencing protocols, developing and applying bioinformatics pipelines for long-read sequencing data, analyzing and presenting results, and participating in the writing of scientific manuscripts. The doctoral student is also expected to take doctoral courses, engage in the intellectual routines of the research group, and contribute to a collaborative research environment.