Postdoc/ Scientist - Translational otobiotics and microbe-host interactions in Tübingen bei Helmholtz Zentrum München

Helmholtz Zentrum München

102258

Full time

Tübingen

Home Office Options

We are Helmholtz Munich. In a rapidly changing world, we discover breakthrough solutions for better health.

Our research is focused within the areas of metabolic health/diabetes, environmental health, molecular targets and therapies, cell programming and repair, bioengineering, and computational health. We particularly excel in the fields of basic research, bioengineering, artificial intelligence, and technological development.

Through this research, we build the foundations for medical innovation. Together with our partners, we seek to accelerate the transfer of our research, so that laboratory ideas can reach society and improve people’s quality of life at the fastest rate possible.

This is what drives us. Why not join us and make a difference?

The primary research goal of the Institute of Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases (IDM) is the individualized prediction of diabetes risk and diabetes prevention and its personalized therapy. The institute is located in Tübingen.

The Jumpertz Lab at the IDM focuses on translational research at the interface of the gut microbiome and metabolic diseases. We are looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher (f/m/x) to join the Jumpertz Lab.

Globally more than 10% of the adult population has Diabetes, which is causally linked with numerous comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease or tumor development, making it one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Therefore, our mission is to pursue a life without diabetes.

Within the last two decades novel concepts of metabolic disease development and the gut microbiome, the trillion microbes colonizing our gut, have been highlighted and the Jumpertz Lab conducts translational research projects bridging clinical multi-center intervention studies in humans and basic research models using cutting edge techniques to metabolically phenotype humanized, gnotobiotic and germ-free mouse models.

Our focus is to understand how gut microbial communities affect host energy metabolism, glucose regulation and nutrient absorption. We are located within the newly constructed M3 Research Center (Malignome, Metabolome, Microbiome) with one of the largest gnotobiotic research facilities in Germany. We are able to assess energy expenditure via indirect calorimetry within gnotobiotic isolators, construct genetically modified bacterial strains to modify host metabolism and apply transplantation experiments from human donors undergoing clinical intervention studies. In this setting we have recently shown how diet interventions in humans affect microbial metabolism, which itself dramatically impacts energy balance of the humanized gnotobiotic host ().

By understanding the role of the gut microbiome in novel subtypes of human metabolic disease we aim to revolutionize therapeutic approaches to booster the implementation of precision medicine for prevention and treatment of Diabetes and Obesity.

Prof. Matthias Tschöp (Dr. Med., Dr. hc.), CEO of Helmholtz Munich: "We believe that excellent research requires a range of different perspectives. Diverse teams reach better solutions and are more innovative in their research topics.

Establishing our Diversity Management Strategy demonstrates our commitment to ensuring an appreciative company culture based on mutual respect. We are also implementing diversity-sensitive processes throughout our whole organization."

Your tasks

• Implementation of gnotobiotic colonization experiments with genetically modified bacterial cells and human donor communities from clinical interventional trials
• Metabolic phenotyping of gnotobiotic mouse models including e.g. glucose regulation, energy expenditure and nutrient absorption
• Close collaboration with our bioinformatic team members and partners to investigate microbial ecology
• Integration of microbial genomic and metabolomic data
• Supervision of graduate students and lab technicians
• Project management and scientific paper writing

Your profile

• You have a Master and PhD in the life sciences or a related field
• Expertise with mouse experiments (prior experience with gnotobiotic isolators is beneficial)
• Experience with metabolic phenotyping of mouse models (glucose tolerance tests, insulin tolerance tests, indirect calorimetry)
• Experience in bioinformatic data analysis (R/Python) is beneficial
• Experience in scientific manuscript writing
• You are proficient in written and spoken English (German is beneficial) and have excellent interpersonal and analytical skills

Benefits

Since 2005, we hold the TOTAL E-QUALITY award for exemplary action in the sense of an equal-opportunity organizational c