Postdoctoral Fellow – Flava virus infection in pregnant host 181 views

VIDO is looking for Postdoctoral Fellow – Flava virus infection in pregnant host

Location: Canada

Job Type: Full-time

Description:

We seek a highly motivated and hardworking Postdoctoral Fellow to join Dr. Karniychuk’s lab at VIDO-InterVac, University of Saskatchewan. The successful candidate will use the porcine pregnancy model, next-generation sequencing, bioinformatics, molecular virology, cell biology, and immunology to study Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) evolution and immunopathology in a natural host during pregnancy.

VIDO-InterVac is a preeminent research institute with its primary focus on microbial pathogenesis, vaccine development, and mitigation strategies against both human and animal pathogens. VIDO-InterVac currently has over 100 personnel and state-of-the-art facilities, including the International Vaccine Centre (InterVac), one of the most advanced containment level 3 facilities in the world consisting of both laboratories and animal isolation suites. VIDO-InterVac scientists work with important human (Influenza, MERS, JEV, Zika virus, and SARS-CoV-2) and animal viruses (PRRSV, PEDV, PCV2/3, and African swine fever virus); a candidate will have a unique opportunity to learn and contribute to multidisciplinary research on emerging and re-emerging pathogens.

Japanese encephalitis virus infection in pregnant pigs is an excellent model to study flavivirus evolution and immunopathology during pregnancy. First, JEV causes natural transplacental and fetal infection in pigs. Second, JEV infection in pigs has epidemiological significance: domestic pigs are the primary amplifying hosts for JEV that maintain virus existence and transmission from mosquitoes to humans. Finally, JEV can cause transplacental infection in humans, and infection in pregnant pigs can be used as a model.

Our team is uniquely positioned to study JEV in the natural amplifying host during pregnancy. We have strong expertise in pig pregnancy models, immunopathology (PLoS Pathog. 2019; Emerg Microbes Infect. 2019), flavivirus infections, NGS, and bioinformatics (Front Immunol. 2020; Viruses. 2020; EBioMedicine. 2017).

Interested candidates please apply.