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PostDoc project in Host-Pathogen Interaction and Cell-Autonomous Immunity: Sweden

The Sixt lab at The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) at Umeå University, Sweden seeks a highly motivated postdoc with interest in infection biology, cell-autonomous immunity, and drug discovery.

Description of project:

Almost every cell in our body has an intrinsic capacity to detect invading microbes and to respond to the threat by inducing a series of cellular defense responses. Yet, while this so-called cell-autonomous immunity may have a key role in providing protection against everyday encountered microbes, it is less effective against significant disease agents that have evolved measures to neutralize its action.

This projects aims to identify and characterize small chemical compounds that can counteract growth of the obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis either by activating cell-autonomous defense responses in infected cells or by repressing the pathogen’s ability to counteract these cellular defenses. The project is expected to provide deeper insights into mechanisms of host-pathogen interaction and to uncover starting points for the development of new host-directed or anti-virulence drugs.

Specific aims of the project include:

• The development and optimization of an experimental protocol for high-throughput small compound screening.
• The implementation of the screening and candidate validation.
• The characterization of the mode of action of validated candidate compounds.

More about us:

The Sixt lab is part of the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) and the Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR), an interdisciplinary research center devoted to top quality research and novel applications in the field of microbiology. You can find more information about us at www.mims.umu.se/groups/barbara-sixt; www.ucmr.umu.se, and www.molbiol.umu.se/english.

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