Postdoctoral Fellowship (2 years) in research project on biomarkers for cognitive aging

Postdoctoral Fellowship (2 years) in research project on biomarkers for cognitive aging

Institutional Information The Department of Psychology at Umeå University offers a postdoctoral fellowship within the project "Longitudinal Profiling of the Aging Plasma Proteome to Identify Risk Profiles for Neurocognitive Aging." The fellowship is for two years, starting on August 15, 2025, or as agreed.

The research group led by Sara Pudas is looking for a motivated postdoctoral fellow for a two-year fellowship in blood-based biomarkers for neurocognitive aging. The research group is specialized in cognitive aging and aging biomarkers. The group is based at the Department of Psychology but also has close collaborations with the Department of Medical and Translational Biology at Umeå University and Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging (UFBI). The research environment conducts strong interdisciplinary research in areas such as genetics, neuroscience, and brain imaging.

Project Description 

Our cognitive abilities, such as memory, decline with aging, but the degree of decline varies between individuals. This project will study blood markers for cognitive aging, i.e., measurements in blood that can predict individuals' cognitive development in aging and theirs risk of dementia. Such markers will be important for better personalizing prevention and treatment of age-related cognitive decline in the future. The project involves statistical analyses of longitudinal changes in levels of many different blood proteins, and how these changes are related to cognitive changes and established markers for Alzheimer's disease. The project may also include machine learning methods to estimate individuals' biological age.

The project is based on existing data from a prominent longitudinal aging study, the Betula Project, as well as the UK Biobank. The candidate will handle, process, and statistically analyze large amounts of data on blood markers, cognitive tests, and health and lifestyle factors. If interested, the postdoc candidate can also choose to be part of the research environment at the Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging. The project will be conducted on-site in Umeå, and remote work is not possible.

In addition to conducting research, the candidate will have the opportunity to gain merit through project management, participation in journal clubs, seminars, research presentations at national and international scientific meetings, and, where applicable, supervision of students conducting projects within the research group's field of study.

The position is fully funded for 2 years by the Kempe Foundations.

Qualifications

 To be eligible for a postdoctoral fellowship, the person must have obtained a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree. This eligibility requirement must be met no later than the time the decision on the fellowship recipient is made. To be considered for a postdoctoral fellowship, the candidate should primarily have obtained their degree no more than three years before the application deadline. If there are special reasons, candidates who obtained their doctoral degree earlier may be considered. Special reasons include leave due to illness, parental leave, clinical service, assignments within trade union organizations, or other similar circumstances.

The candidate's doctoral degree should be in biological psychology, medicine, biomedicine, biostatistics, neuroscience, cognitive science, or a related field. The successful candidate must be able to independently plan and conduct data processing and statistical analyses. Knowledge of statistics and programming (e.g., R) is therefore a requirement. The candidate is expected to compile research results, interpret them in relation to literature in biology and psychology, and communicate them orally and in writing in English. Good knowledge of English is therefore required, as well as the ability to assimilate and synthesize scientific literature in the field. Furthermore, good collaboration skills within the group and with other research groups are required. Emphasis will be placed on personal suitability.

Additional merits that will be considered:

• Previous research in neurodegenerative diseases or cognitive aging
• Background in some form of omics, e.g., genomics, proteomics, epigenetics, or similar
  Competence in bioinformatics and/or biostatistics
• Experience working with large-scale datasets and longitudinal data
• Experience with machine learning and/or AI

We are looking for curious and motivated candidates with expertise at the intersection of psychology and biology, who thrive in interdisciplinary research environments!

Application 

The application should be written in English or Swedish, and attached documents should be in Word or PDF format. The application should be registered via Umeå University's e-recruitment system Varbi and received no later than May 31, 2025.

The application should include:

• A personal letter with research interest and motivation for the application (max 1 page).
• Curriculum vitae (CV) including previous positions, publication list, and skills relevant to the current project.
• Copies of degree certificates (doctoral degree and other diplomas) or documentation clarifying when the doctoral degree is expected to be obtained.
• A copy of the doctoral thesis and up to 3 relevant articles where the applicant has had a prominent role in the authorship.
• Contact information for at least two referees, one of whom should be a previous supervisor.
  
  

Other Information and Contact For further information, contact the research group leader Sara Pudas, Department of Psychology, email: sara.pudas@umu.se.

We welcome your application!