This vacancy is published within the academics.com initiative #ResearchersAtRisk. In the case of applications of researchers in risk, the special biographical circumstances are taken into account.

For our location in Hamburg we are seeking:

Postdoc Position in Computational Immunology

Limited: 31.12.2023 | Starting date: earliest possible | ID: FSPO009/2021 | Deadline: open | Full-time/Part-time DESY, with more than 2700 employees at its two locations in Hamburg and Zeuthen, is one of the world's leading research centres. Its research focuses on decoding the structure and function of matter, from the smallest particles of the universe to the building blocks of life. In this way, DESY contributes to solving the major questions and urgent challenges facing science, society and industry. With its ultramodern research infrastructure, its interdisciplinary research platforms and its international networks, DESY offers a highly attractive working environment in the fields of science, technology and administration as well as for the education of highly qualified young scientists. Can we describe the immune-response of a host infected by a virus or bacterium on a quantitative, predictive level?
The project is focused on the numerical study of the immune response following a bacterial or viral infection in a mouse animal model. The successful applicant will develop a kinetic, physiologically based immune­response model, adapting existing pharmacokinetic models and multi-scale models of the immune response. The candidate will develop a comprehensive multi-compartment model - compartments corresponding to specific organs, tissues and interconnections thereof - that will map the relevant anatomical, physiological and biochemical structure of the mouse body, and by a transport & rate-equation model follow the evolution of the pathogens, cytokines and relevant cells (for example Th17 cells and CD4+ T cell differentiation) of the immune system. The project is a collaboration with the group of Prof. Samuel Huber (UKE, University Medical Center Hamburg-­Eppendorf) and will initially focus on computational immunology of the immune response against pathogenic bacteria causing intestinal inflammation and tissue damage, for which a variety of data exist from previous studies. In a later stage of the project, the study will be complemented by X-ray fluorescence imaging of marked relevant lymphocytes in infected mice (in collaboration with Prof. Florian Grüner, Universität Hamburg), to benchmark the theoretical model with experimental data. Finally, we envision applications of the combined theoretical and experimental approach to model and study the immune response of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. We offer an exciting, interdisciplinary, vivid research environment in Hamburg, with base at the DESY research campus (Prof. Nina Rohringer), linked to the UKE (Prof. Samuel Huber, University Medical Center Hamburg-­Eppendorf), Universität Hamburg (Prof. Florian Grüner), the CSSB (Center for Structural and Systems Biology, Prof. Michael Kolbe), the newly founded Center for Data and Computing in Natural Sciences (Prof. Jan Baumbach) and the Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (Dr. Weibo Li).