Job description 

Applications are invited for a 3-year NORPOD Postdoctoral Fellowship for an interdisciplinary project combining Molecular Biology and Systems Neuroscience to study how sleep deficiencies may impact neural development and transcriptomics in rodent models. The selected candidate will be hired at the University of Oslo and join a collaboration at the Nordic EMBL Partnership institutes: Thomas Kim’s group at DANDRITE (Aarhus University, Denmark) and Charlotte Boccara’s group at NCMBM (University of Oslo, Norway). 

NORPOD is a collaborative postdoctoral program of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine. The partnership is a network of four national research centers across the Nordics and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), with complementary research expertise at the forefront of molecular medicine research. With the NORPOD program, the Nordic EMBL Partnership aims to foster the next generation of researchers in molecular medicine by implementing joint postdoctoral research projects to nurture strong competences and research excellence. 

The NORPOD Fellow will be hosted at the Boccara group (NCMBM, Oslo). To promote collaboration between the two labs, this position will involve stays at the Kim lab (DANDRITE, DK). 

Host groups:

Boccara Lab: Boccara_group

(NCMBM – ERC 2023 – Nature Comm 2022, Science 2019)

Kim lab: Kim Group 

(DANDRITE – Cell Reports 2025, Nature 2024)

 We seek a highly motivated postdoctoral candidate with wet-lab experience in (i) systems neuroscience (with a focus on electrophysiology and sleep) and (ii) in spatial transcriptomics and high-resolution imaging.

The selected candidate will work at the intersection of molecular biology and systems neuroscience, gaining a unique holistic perspective on brain development in relation to sleep maturation. Under the supervision of Boccara (NCMBM – ERC 2023 – Nature Comm 2022, Science 2019) and Kim (DANDRITE – Cell Reports 2025, Nature 2024), the postdoc will be introduced to the forefront of promising research fields and cutting-edge techniques, making their profile extremely attractive for future recruitments.

The Boccara group offers a unique platform for studying sleep and circuit-level maturation in vivo, with rodent models of sleep deprivation, developmental sleep monitoring, and electrophysiology recordings.

The Kim group contributes advanced tools for spatial molecular phenotyping, including smFISH-based spatial transcriptomics, spatial validation of single-cell data, and gene regulatory network mapping during neural development. 

Qualification requirements

• Applicants must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in Cell Biology, Neurosciences or a related discipline. If a doctoral degree is not yet awarded, the doctoral dissertation must be submitted for evaluation by the closing application date.
• FELASA certificate (or equivalent personal license to conduct animal experiments) is required.
• Strong neuroscience background and/or strong background in spatial transcriptomics and spatial single-cell data demonstrated by publications in peer-reviewed journals is wished. 
• Experience in high-resolution imaging and molecular phenotyping 
• Experience with in vivo electrophysiology in rodents including device buildings, surgical procedures, freely-behaving recording procedures, signal processing and data analyses
• Experience with rodent development, colonies maintenance
• Fluent oral and written English communication skills
• Python, Matlab, R or other relevant programming language skills
• Experience in the following will also count in the assessment of the applicants: optogenetics, chemogenetics, computational and statistical methods for analysis; rodent behaviour, histology methods, sleep scoring, neurodevelopment as well as rodent genetic editing, viral and neurodevelopment tools, engineering, electronics.

Personal skills

• Strong motivation. 
• Ability to integrate and collaborate within a cross-disciplinary environment. 
• Organization skills. 
• Ability to work independently and take initiatives. 
• Clarity in communication. 

Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal qualifications.

We offer 

• Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important societal mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promote sustainable, fair, and knowledge-based societal development.
• Committed colleagues in a good working environment. 
• Good welfare schemes.
• Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours.
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities. 
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes.
• Salary in position as Postdoctoral Fellow, position code 1352 in salary range NOK from 595 000 – 679 700, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund.

Inclusive worklife and diversity at UiO

Inclusion and diversity are a strength. The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a balanced gender composition. Furthermore, we want employees with diverse professional expertise, life experience and perspectives.

If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, employment gaps or immigrant background, we will invite at least one applicant from each of these categories to an interview.

We hope that you will apply for the position. 

More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here.

Application

Your application should include:

• cover letter describing research experience, interests and statement of motivation 
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work including list of publications) 
• copies of educational and FELASA certificates (academic transcripts only) 
• list of 2-3 professional references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and phone number) 

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for the position".

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English.

General information

The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews. 

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we cannot, you will hear from us.

Please refer to Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (Norwegian) and Guidelines concerning appointment to post doctoral and research posts at UiO (Norwegian).

The University of Oslo has a transfer agreement with all employees that is intended to secure the rights to all research results etc.

Apply for the position