PhD Student and Postdoc Positions in Pneumococcal Virulence 60 - 100%

The Institute for Infectious Diseases performs tasks in teaching and research as well as in diagnostic microbiology in the fields of virology, bacteriology, mycology, parasitology and serological infection clarification. It is the only university institute in Switzerland that combines all microbiological specialties in the field of clinical microbiology under one roof.

The Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Switzerland, invites applications for 2 PhD positions (for four years, 100%) and 2 postdoc positions (for two years, 100%) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation for a project on “Identification of novel pneumococcal factors determining virulence in the era of vaccines with expanding serotype coverage and investigating the mechanisms of their success” in the groups of Prof Lucy Hathaway and Prof Markus Hilty.
Description
Streptococcus pneumoniae, is a major cause of death globally, particularly from pneumonia and meningitis, and pneumococcal serotypes and lineages differ in their propensity to cause severe disease. Understanding evolution of S. pneumoniae in invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and its mechanisms of virulence is the focus of the project.
In Prof Hilty's lab one PhD student and one postdoc will identify emerging lineages associated with IPD in Switzerland and South Africa, correlate their genetic features with clinical data by genome wide association study (GWAS) and identify factors determining their success using CRISPRi sequencing.
In Prof Hathaway's lab one PhD student and one postdoc will determine the effect of candidate factors and their specific alleles by constructing switch mutants, using the Janus cassette, and testing of the phenotypes produced.
The project involves a collaboration between several groups at the Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Switzerland, Prof Anne von Gottberg, National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa and Prof Mirco Schmolke, University of Geneva, Switzerland.

• CV
• Copies of grades, diplomas and letters of reference
• letter describing your motivation to work on this project.