Doctoral (PhD) student position in DNA-based digital data storage

at  Karolinska Institutet doctoral positions

DO YOU WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO TOP QUALITY MEDICAL RESEARCH?

To be a doctoral student means to devote oneself to a research project under supervision of experienced researchers and following an individual study plan. For a doctoral degree, the equivalent of four years of full-time doctoral education is required.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR DOCTORAL EDUCATION

In order to participate in the selection for a doctoral position, you must meet the following general (A) and specific (B) eligibility requirements at latest by the application deadline.
It is your responsibility to certify eligibility by following the instructions on the web page Entry requirements (eligibility) for doctoral education.

SKILLS AND PERSONAL QUALITIES

You should have knowledge of basic lab techniques such as PCR, basic enzymatic methods for nucleic acid manipulation (e.g. ligation, restriction digestion), gel electrophoretic techniques in addition to techniques in molecular cloning and transgenic protein production workflow. The ability to conduct lab work and document results in a precise and neat manner and to discuss and present results comprehensively is required.

It is advantageous if the applicant has experience in one or some of the following:

• Nucleicacid amplification techniques (e.g. PCR, LAMP, IVT).
• Work with nucleoproteins.
• Work in the field of synthetic biology.
• Transgenic protein production in bacteria.
• Working with bacteriophages.
• Working with bioinformatics tools in Python, R, Julia.

Current technologies for long term data storage do not provide a sustainable way to store the increasing amount of data generated in the world therefore new approaches need to be developed. One of the candidates for alternative data storage medium holding a lot of promise is DNA as, if the technology gets fully realized, it offers several advantages: high storage density, exceptional stability on long timescales among other things. However, DNA-based information storage technologies in their current form mostly provide cold-storage solutions with limited real-life applicability. We are looking for a PhD student that would join our team to help us in improving current manifestations of DNA-based data storage in terms of data stability and dynamic data operability in vitro and in vivo as part of the Dura-store project (https://durastore.eu), participating in the European Innovation Council’s Pathfinder Challenge for DNA-based digital data storage. As a doctoral student, you are expected to take a leading role in your research project under the supervision of your PhD supervisors, taking an active part in study design, data generation, processing and communicating the results. You are also expected to complete the doctoral education through taking relevant courses and completing the doctoral thesis project and in the process become an independent researcher by the end of the study.