FLASH is seeking a postdoc

We can offer a two-year position starting October 1, 2022, or as soon as possible thereafter. The position is shared between University of Southern Denmark (18.5 hours) and Odense University Hospital (18.5 hours). 

Clinical data to analyse

GALAXY (livergalaxy.eu) and MicrobLiver are highly interdisciplinary collaborations investigating the gut-liver axis and its role in alcohol-related liver disease. The GALAXY project is coordinated by FLASH Center for Liver Research. We have partners throughout Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, and Greece, specialising in the microbiome, virome, metabolome, genome, proteome, and systems medicine. Center for Liver Research conducted four clinical studies in GALAXY from 2013 to 2021, two prospective cohorts and two randomised controlled trials.

The LiverScreen (liverscreen.eu) and DECIDE projects investigate screening for liver disease in a random general population and at-risk groups, including both baseline screening investigations and follow up visits. The latter will be finalised by mid-2023.

In all four projects, we have collected vast amounts of data on participants, cross-sectional, longitudinal and from electronic patient files and national registries. The data warehouse includes extensive phenotyping, medical history, questionnaires, biochemistry, imaging, histology, and outcome events. Furthermore, we have a large biobank in all projects, with analyses covering several omics platforms: metagenome, metatranscriptome, proteome, lipidome, metabolome, genome, transcriptome.

Expectations of qualifications

We are looking for a highly motivated, dedicated, and ambitious scientist who:

• Holds a PhD degree within STEMM fields
• Has at least one first-author publication in a high impact journal
• Has published clinical research manuscripts
• Has experience in performing and interpreting statistical analyses in Stata or R, and have many scalable tools at your disposal, including for visualization, survival analyses, multivariable model building and other statistical analyses.
• Is particularly interested in analysis of longitudinal and survival data, randomized trials, and/or biomarker development and validation.
• Is curious, ambitious, and passionate, and would like to be in the frontline, where research makes a difference and is close to the patients
• Would like to join a team and help support the group, but are also comfortable working independently, exploring own ideas
• Enjoys communicating science, writing papers and exploring new ideas in grant proposals
• Would like to co-supervise pre-graduate and PhD students

What can we offer

• A two-year postdoc position in a research center with a highly qualified team of clinical researchers, medical doctors, project nurses, and managerial staff
• A possibility to join the research group and contribute with the data analysis of our clinical observational and intervention cohorts
• The opportunity to expand your own research profile based on your experience and interests, and to write grants for your own funding
• A competitive salary and social benefits (e.g. health coverage, parental leave, social security etc.)
• The support of a well-established administrative team of data managers, center management, senior and young investigators
• Get to work internationally and interdisciplinary
• Be inspired by our basic scientist collaborators at University of Southern Denmark, and in GALAXY, MicrobLiver, LiverScreen and DECIDE.
• Be part of a well-functioning and inspiring workplace which seeks both ambition and fun

FLASH is an internationally recognized elite research center with approximately 25 employees, an annual operational budget of more than 1 million euros, and 10 ongoing clinical studies. We are 2 professors, 1 postdoc, 7 PhD students, 3 project nurses, a team of clinical research assistants, and our own administrative team (research sites: Krag, Thiele).

The center focuses on the development and validation of biomarker tools and interventions against alcohol-related and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases. We investigate how comorbidity, genetics, diet, and the microbiome influence liver damage, and we conduct randomized controlled trials to test interventions to attenuate liver fibrosis and disease activity. FLASH publishes 65% of our scientific work with international partners, and is a partner or coordinator in research consortia with a total budget exceeding 33 million euro.

Center chief Aleksander Krag is Vice-General-Secretary of the European Associate for the Study of the Liver (EASL). FLASH is affiliated with Odense University Hospital, a 1,200-bed teaching hospital with 10,000 employees, and an uptake area of 1.3 million people (OUH); and to University of Southern Denmark (SDU).