Descripción
About the position We are looking for a highly motivated researcher to join our team at the Department of Microbiology, at the Institute of Clinical Medicine at the University of Oslo. The position will be associated with the young research group “Mitonuclear DNA Maintenance and Transcriptional Control“ and will be working on the Research Council of Norway funded research project “MIND: Mitochondria-Initiated Neuronal Defense against Parkinson’s Disease”. The position is for 2 years, from 1st of January 2027. Start date is negotiable. More about the position This position offers a unique opportunity to help uncover how DNA repair and mitochondrial transcription shape neuronal resilience in Parkinson’s disease. You will be the main experimental researcher of Work Package 2, where we develop and apply a human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) based model of midbrain dopaminergic neurons and midbrain organoids. Using patient-derived iPSCs carrying an alpha-synuclein (SNCA) triplication and isogenic controls, you will investigate how loss of DNA repair enzymes alters mitochondrial transcription, alpha-syn aggregation, and neuronal survival. The project explores a new idea in Parkinson’s disease (PD): that certain types of DNA repair deficiency can activate protective mitochondrial and transcriptional responses in neurons, rather than only causing damage. We focus on the DNA base excision repair (BER) enzymes and how their loss affects mitochondrial function, α-synuclein aggregation, and survival of dopaminergic neurons. You will be employed at the Department of Microbiology, which is jointly affiliated with the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital. The institute hosts a strong but very social environment, with access to advanced core facilities. The research section in the department has 15 research groups and 6 project groups ( https://www.ous-research.no/microbiology/ ) working in various fields, including brain cancer, microbiology, epigenetics causes o