Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Group Our group is looking for candidates to fill in a research technician position.
The candidate will provide support in projects related to the mechanisms of inter-organ communication in Parkinson's disease to establish novel pathogenic mechanisms and new possibilities for biomarkers and disease-modifying therapeutic strategies.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common progressive human neurodegenerative disorder of unknown origin that is becoming more frequent due to the increase in life expectancy.
Importantly, there are no reliable biomarkers that allow an early diagnosis nor therapies that stop or slow down its progression, so it remains an incurable disease.
This project looks more deeply into the communication between the brain and other body organs in PD.
Current diagnosis requires the identification of classical motor symptoms, first noticeable when there is already a significant neuronal loss in susceptible brain regions.
However, PD patients present with other non-motor symptoms (NMS) that usually appear clinically before the manifestation of parkinsonism in a prediagnostic phase of several years.
These include gastrointestinal alterations and other alterations of the autonomic nervous system.
Also, an altered microbiota composition has been reported in the gut of PD patients.
The main aim is to understand how alterations in the gut-brain axis and other communication axes (i.e.
neuroendocrine, immune and metabolic) contribute to the onset and/or progression of disease, with the goal of identifying possible early biomarkers and new therapies to prevent or slow down disease progression.
Education and qualifications: Required: • Bachelor's Degree in Health/Life Sciences.
• Completed Master's degree in Neurosciences, Translational Biomedicine Research, Microbiology or similar.
• Good communication skills and fluency in spoken and written English.
• Experience and knowledge of basic laboratory histological techniques (e.g.
stereological cell analysis, IHC, IF, confocal microscopy) and molecular techniques (ELISA, RTq PCR, WB, Dot Blot).
Desired: • Previous knowledge in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, specifically in Parkinson's Disease.
• Certification and experience working with animal models and knowledge of animal experimentation techniques (stereotaxic injection of Adeno Associated Viral Vectors (AAV), behavioral tests).
• Previous experience processing human and animal samples (brain tissue and biofluids).
• Experience in specific software for image and data analysis (Oly VIA, Image J, Graph Pad, Stata).
Experience and knowledge: Required: • Previous experience in basic laboratory techniques.
• Proactive, dynamic and outstanding organizational skills.
• Strong sense of responsibility, initiative, self-motivation and social skills as key personal abilities.
• Ability to work independently as well as in a team environment.
Desired: • Previous experience with Neurosciences, Immunology, or Microbiology.
• Experience in handling human, cell and mouse samples.
• Author of scientific publications.
• Research experience abroad.
Main responsibilities and duties: • Manipulation and surgery of mice and rats to generate and characterize rodent Parkinson's disease models.
• Process human and mouse samples (histology, microscopy, biochemical and molecular analyses).
• Analyze and interpret the data generated.
• Careful reading of the literature to provide intellectual input to the research project.
• Participation in group meetings and scientific seminars.
• Analysis of inflammation and barrier biomarkers in tissue samples obtained from the VHIP cohort.
• Correlation of the different biomarkers detected with demographic and clinical parameters of the VHIP cohort.
Labour conditions: • Part-time position: 30h/week.
• Starting date: October 2024.
• Gross annual salary: 17.117,42 euros (Remuneration will depend on experience and skills.
Salary ranges are consistent with our Collective Agreement pay scale).
• Contract: Temporary.
What can we offer?
• Incorporation to Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), a public sector institution that promotes and develops biomedical research, innovation and teaching at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (HUVH), the biggest hospital of Barcelona and the largest of Catalan Institute of Health (ICS).
• A scientific environment of excellence, highly dynamic, where high-end biomedical projects are continuously developed.
• Continuous learning and a wide range of responsibilities within a stimulating work environment.
• Individual training opportunities.
• Flexible working hours.
• 23 days of holidays + 9 personal days.
• Flexible Remuneration Program (including dining checks, health insurance, transportation and more).
• Corporate Benefits: platform through which you can obtain significant discounts on travel, culture, technology, gastronomy, sports among many others.
• Healthy Offering: choose from a variety of wellbeing focused activities to be the healthiest you.
Deadline to apply: 10-10-2024.
VHIR embraces Equality and Diversity.
As reflected in our values we work toward ensuring inclusion and equal opportunity in recruitment, hiring, training, and management for all staff within the organization, regardless of gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion, age, functional diversity or ethnicity.
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