Staff scientist in chemical lipid biology and structural interactomics

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Project description

Chorell's research group is seeking a staff scientist for a project that develops spatially and temporally resolved sphingolipidomics to understand mitochondrial lipid-protein interactions in insulin resistance. The project combines mitochondria-targeted, light-activatable sphingolipid precursors and photoactivatable, clickable ceramide and deoxyceramide probes with UV activation, click chemistry-based enrichment, targeted lipidomics, and high-resolution XL-MS/interactomics. The work is carried out in muscle and adipocyte models and aims to link lipid flux and binding sites to mitochondrial stress and impaired insulin sensitivity.

The employment is fixed-term for 11 months at full time. The work is located in Umeå and takes place in close collaboration with mass spectrometry and chemical biology environments within Umeå universitet, Swedish Metabolomics Centre, and SciLifeLab-related infrastructure.

Tasks

You will independently lead the experimental and analytical method development for the project's click chemistry-based lipid interactomics. The work includes planning and optimizing UV photoactivation, covalent capture of transient lipid-protein contacts, alkyne-azide ligation, affinity enrichment with magnetic beads, and sample preparation for high-resolution LC-MS/MS and XL-MS. You will develop reproducible workflows, appropriate negative controls, and quantitative strategies to distinguish specific interactions from background signals.

You will conduct experiments in established muscle and adipocyte models and integrate interactomics with targeted lipidomics and pulse-chase-based flux measurements. You are responsible for quality control, data analysis, and structural interpretation of protein-lipid adducts and candidate binding sites, as well as prioritizing interaction nodes for functional validation. The work also includes scientific documentation, protocol development, FAIR data management, manuscript writing, presentation of results, and knowledge transfer within the research group and to collaborators. Some common administrative tasks may be included.

Competence requirements

We are looking for you who have:

• a doctoral degree in proteomics, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, chemical biology, structural biology, clinical pharmacology, or a related field;
• documented practical experience in mass spectrometry method development and data analysis covering both protein/peptide analysis and quantitative LC-MS/MS of small molecules in biological or clinical samples;

• documented experience in crosslinking mass spectrometry (XL-MS), structural proteomics, or a methodology directly comparable to these;
• the ability to independently plan, troubleshoot, quality assure, and document complex experimental workflows;

• very good ability to communicate science in English, both orally and in writing.

Meritorious competence

It is particularly meritorious if you have experience in one or more of the following areas:

• photoaffinity labeling, click chemistry, UV crosslinking, or affinity enrichment of protein adducts;
• lipidomics or sphingolipidomics, including targeted analysis with triple quadrupole and/or high-resolution analysis with Orbitrap/Q-Exactive;

• development and validation of robust LC-MS/MS methods for clinical samples or pharmacokinetic studies;
• molecular dynamics simulations, structure-informed data analysis, or identification of protein binding sites;

• cell culture and experimental models for skeletal muscle, adipocytes, insulin resistance, or type 2 diabetes;
• integration of proteomics, lipidomics, and interactomics data using R, Python, or equivalent tools;

• supervision, method training, international collaboration, and reproducible working methods within open science.

Personal qualities and language

The project requires you to work in a structured and meticulous manner, take scientific responsibility, and be able to drive method development from optimization to biological interpretation. You need to be solution-oriented and thrive in interdisciplinary collaboration between chemical biology, proteomics, lipidomics, and metabolic physiology. Great importance will be placed on personal suitability and a documented ability to contribute to an inclusive research environment. The working language of the project is primarily English.

Application

The application should include a CV, a personal letter with a clear description of how your experience corresponds to the competence requirements, certificates of doctoral degree, and a publication list. The application must be received no later than 2026-10-01.

A warm welcome with your application!

Umeå universitet aims to offer a gender-equal and equitable environment where open dialogue between people with different backgrounds and perspectives lays the foundation for learning, creativity, and development. We therefore welcome people with different backgrounds and experiences to apply for the position in question.

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