The Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS is seeking a candidate for the position of: Postdoctoral Researcher at Laboratory of Neurobiology

Number of available positions: 1

Place of work: Laboratory of Neurobiology

Researcher career profiles (R1-R4): R2
Field of science: Biology

Type of recruitment: NCN Opus

Requirements:

• Holds a doctoral degree (PhD), obtained not earlier than 7 years before the year of employment in the project (not including maternity leaves),
• Has worked in at least one research laboratory,
• Has conducted experiments on eukaryotic organisms,
• Ability to independently conduct laboratory experiments,
• Fluent English proficiency in speaking and writing,
• Is strongly motivated to conduct neurobiology research,
• Can independently design and conduct experiments, analyze and interpret results,
• Experience working with laboratory animals,
• Electrophysiology, Two-photon imaging, Live/in vivo imaging, Molecular cloning and biochemical techniques, Programming/coding.

Project description:

NCN Opus project entitled "The role of astrocytes in chronic stress resilience".

Chronic stress represents a significant risk factor for the development of depression. However, despite exposure to stressful factors, a substantial proportion of individuals do not exhibit depressive symptoms, indicating the existence of stress resilience mechanisms. While traditional depression research has focused primarily on neurons and neurotransmitters, growing evidence points to the crucial role of glial cells, particularly astrocytes, in the pathophysiology of this disorder.

Within this project, we plan to investigate the role of astrocytes in chronic stress resilience mechanisms in mice. A key astrocytic marker associated with depression is glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) – an intermediate filament protein expressed mainly in astrocytes. GFAP shows increased expression in a broad spectrum of brain pathologies, such as trauma, ischemia, and neurodegeneration. However, in depression, both in humans and animal models, reduced GFAP expression is observed. This decreased expression suggests potential impairment of astrocytic function and highlights the importance of investigating their role in depression.

Main project objectives:

1. Determine the role of astrocytes in chronic stress resilience mechanisms
2. Investigate GFAP involvement in chronic stress resilience
3. Identify mRNAs undergoing differential translation between stress-susceptible and stress-resilient animals

Methodology:

The project encompasses behavioral studies of mice in a chronic unpredictable stress model, astrocyte imaging using expansion microscopy, Ca²⁺ signal imaging in astrocytes, utilization of GFAP knockout mice, and transgenic mice with tagged ribosomes in astrocytes enabling analysis of the astrocytic translatome using translating ribosome affinity purification (TRAP) methodology.

Employment conditions:

• Work contract,
• First contract for 6 months, second until the end of the project,
• Starting date: October 2025,
• Supplementary benefits (private health insurance [Enel-Med], sports membership, employee social fund),

Application procedure and deadline:

Applications should be sent to: postdoc@nencki.edu.pl, with a note „Postdoc PM”.

Deadline: October 5^th, 2025

Required documents:

• CV,
• Letter-of-intent,
• 2 letters of reference with contact details,
• Copy of PhD diploma (or equivalent),
• Contact information, including e-mail address and phone number,
• The candidate's statement that she/he is not financed from other projects of the National Science Center,
• Declaration that the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology will be the primary place of employment.

You can use the foreign equivalent of a Polish academic degree if it meets at least
one of the following criteria:

• is covered by the provisions of an international agreement on the equivalence
  of education,
• was issued by an authorized institution operating in an EU, OECD or EFTA Member State,
• was issued in another country and recognized on the basis of the regulations
  on the recognition of academic degrees obtained abroad (learn more about
  the procedure for the recognition of academic degrees:

https://nawa.gov.pl/en/recognition/recognition-for-professional-purposes/recognition-of-scientific-degrees-and-titles

Further information can be obtained by contacting Piotr Michaluk; p.michaluk@nencki.edu.pl

See our Lab Websites: https://neurogene2.nencki.gov.pl/

Additional information:

Please include the following clause in your CV:

I give consent for my personal data included in the recruitment form to be processed
by Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS with its registered seat in Warsaw at Pasteur Street No. 3 (data controller) for the purposes of recruitment for Postdoctoral Researcher position pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC in compliance with a legal obligation to which the data controller is subject to (Art. 6 section 1 letter a) and the Act on personal data protection of 10 May 2018 (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1000).

Information Clause:

The Controller of data is Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS with its registered seat in Warsaw at Pasteur Street No. 3.

Contact Details of the Personal Data Protection Officer: iod@nencki.edu.pl

Personal data in the recruitment form is collected and will be processed only for the purposes of recruitment for Postdoctoral Researcher position conducted by Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS.

Giving consent for processing of your personal data is voluntary; however, it is necessary in order to take part in recruitment. I hereby state that I was informed about the right to withdraw my consent at any time. The withdrawal of the consent does not influence
the lawfulness of any processing performed before the consent withdrawal.

Personal data collected in order to perform the recruitment process shall be processed throughout the period of time necessary for the organisation and completion
of the recruitment process, as well as for considering a possible complaint; however,
not longer than for the period specified in the project regulations.

Personal data will not be transferred to a third party.

You have the right to request the data controller for access to your personal data, to edit or limit its processing, as well as to raise an objection or transfer your data. You are also entitled to file a complaint to the supervisory body (President of the Office for Personal Data Protection).