International Fully-Funded Postdoctoral Position in Nutrient-Specific Satiety

Background
CBMR is a vibrant international research environment with a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration. Our researchers share a common purpose as they seek to transform the basic understanding of the mechanisms involved in metabolic health and disease, and to accelerate this knowledge toward new prevention and treatment strategies. The Center’s research has resulted in seminal discoveries as to how genes, hormones, and environmental factors influence metabolic health and disease throughout life. You can read more about us here: www.cbmr.ku.dk.

Our group and research
The candidate will be part of the Gillum Group focusing on Regulation of Metabolism and Nutrient-specific Appetite. The Gillum Group characterizes hormones and metabolites generated via the gut, gut microbiota, and liver that govern host metabolism and appetite. We identify the receptors and cellular targets through which they exert their beneficial or detrimental effects with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic possibilities.

Project Description
The ancient Greeks believed that the liver was intimately connected with both pleasure and the soul. Consistent with this old idea, we recently identified the liver as a hormonal inhibitor of sugar appetite using a combination of mouse and human genetics. Here, we seek to delineate how this anti-sugar hormone, FGF21, acts on appetitive and consummatory drives to suppress sucrose and alcohol cravings, which may lead to new cellular and molecular targets for obesity, steatohepatitis, and alcohol use disorder.

The postdoc position is a full-time position for 3 years. Starting date is 15 November 2020 or after agreement.

Essential criteria:

• PhD in nutrition or molecular nutrition
• Experience in designing and executing food preference experiments
• Proven track record showing continuous scientific productivity in peer reviewed journals
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
• Independent thinking, and analytical aptitude for devising innovative scientific or technical solutions
• Demonstrate capacity for effective independent work and as part of a team
• Demonstrate enthusiasm, motivation, flexibility and confidence

Desirable criteria:

• Experience with sensory and hedonic evaluation of taste sensitivity
• Experience with techniques to evaluate nutrient-specific motivation
• Previous experience in endocrine signaling pathways/network analysis
• Experience in experimental design, and planning of experiments
• Familiar with human enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays
• Candidates with additional background in metabolism, food science, obesity surgery, or liver physiology are desirable

Salary, pension and terms of employment will be in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and AC (Danish Confederation of Professional Associations). Currently, the monthly salary starts at 34,650 DKK/ approx. 4,650 Euro (April 2020-level). Depending on qualifications, a supplement may be negotiated. The employer will pay an additional 17.1 % to your pension fund.

Non-Danish and Danish applicants may be eligible for tax reductions, if they hold a PhD degree and have not lived in Denmark the last 10 years.

Procedure
Your online application must be submitted in English by clicking ‘Apply now’ in the link. Furthermore, your application must include the following documents/attachments – all in PDF format:

• Motivated letter of application (max. one page)
• Curriculum vitae (maximum of 2 pages; your ORCID must be included)
• Full list of publications (journal impact factors at publication date must be included)
• References (name and contact details of at least two references)