Professors and Research Group Leaders Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Vaccines and Immunity University of Copenhagen

Job Description

Industry: Research, Biotechnology Research, and Higher Education
Seniority for this role: Mid-Senior level
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Vaccines and Immunity (NCVI) seeks to appoint 4 Research Group Leaders, who will be employed at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Immunology and Microbiology (ISIM) that hosts the new Center. The positions are a unique opportunity to join the newly established initiative that is a potential game changer in the field of vaccines. Joining now offers the opportunity to help shape NCVI. Background The Novo Nordisk Foundation Initiative for Vaccines and Immunity (NIVI) was recently established to harness knowledge of airway immunity to prevent airborne epidemics through innovative vaccine research and development. NIVI is comprised of two entities: the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Vaccines and Immunity (NCVI), a state-of-the-art research centre anchored at the University of Copenhagen, and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Vaccine Accelerator (NVAC), a company owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation enables the translational efforts of NIVI by providing industry-level expertise in vaccine development and conducting clinical studies (Phase 1 & 2, including CHIM) for new vaccine candidates. Within the initiative, NCVI directs the research, discovery and educational aspects of the initiative, while NVAC provides industry-level expertise in vaccine development and conduct clinical studies for new vaccine candidates. NVAC will also lead robust development plans that ensure efficient handover to a partner for late-stage development of successful vaccines. Thus, NIVI’s unique structure is designed to bridge the divisions between basic science, innovation, clinical application, manufacturing, regulatory considerations, and development. NCVI is now inviting applications for four Research Group Leader positions, Principal Investigators, at the professorial level in the following areas: (1) Airway Immunology, (2) Group A Streptococcus Vaccine Research, (3) Streptococcus pneumoniae Vaccine Research and (4) Influenza Virus Vaccine Research. The positions offer the opportunity to conduct world-class research with a strong translational potential, in an environment that fosters strong collaboration between internal, external and international partners. Successful candidates will have access to state-of-the-art facilities and research support that promotes cutting-edge innovation. In addition to the necessary project and running costs, NCVI will provide robust funding for the Group Leader to build their research team under the direction of the Executive Director. Job Descriptions Professor, Group Leader of Airway Immunology The incumbent will serve as Group Leader of Airway Immunology. The Group Leader will lead and supervise a multidisciplinary research group focussed on understanding the fundamental principles of airway immunity related to prophylaxis with a view to improving the efficacy of upper and lower airway administered vaccines. Specifically, research should aim to identify and optimise sites of innate and adaptive immunity suitable for the delivery of next generation vaccines. Important scientific questions include a fundamental understanding of B and T cell tissue resident memory in the airways and the ability to manipulate such immunity for durable prophylaxis; and the identification of systemic markers able to predict robust airway immunity. It is important that the incumbent leverages relevant animal models and 3D in-vitro models for a better understanding airway immunity, and a strong emphasis should be placed on the assessment of human airway immunology. The Group Leader will be encouraged to lead translational sciences for the team and work closely with NVAC on new innovations that will originate from the research including clinical evaluation and assessment of vaccines for improved airway immunity. Professor, Group Leader of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) vaccine research The incumbent will serve as Group Leader, responsible for championing NCVI’s GAS vaccine research program. This role includes leading pathogen-orientated research and antigen discovery that results in an enhanced understanding of how to generate and maintain protective immunity against GAS, to prevent pharyngitis and associated colonization/transmission (and potentially also scarlet fever, skin infections and invasive disease). The research will involve studies of host-pathogen interactions at the molecular level, with a focus on pathogenesis and the mechanisms leading to the establishment of infection in the oropharyngeal. This should facilitate research into how the immune system can be activated to prevent pathology, reduce carriage and elicit protective immunity through vaccination. A state-of-the-art application of bacteriology multi-omics, immunology, bioinformatics and machine learning tools will be essential to success. The Group Leader will be expected to define and prioritize vaccine antigens and relevant delivery platforms and collaborate with NVACs translational teams to advance vaccines into clinical development. It is important that the incumbent leverages relevant animal models, 3D tissue models, non-interventional clinical studies and potentially controlled human infection models (CHIMs) to better understand protective immune responses and robustly assess immune responses elicited by vaccination. The Group Leader will be expected to work in close collaboration internally with other Group Leaders, experts in structural biology, protein- and glycol-chemistry, vaccine platforms, airway immunity and vaccine formulation, as well as with the wider GAS community, including global consortiums such as SAVAC. Professor, Group Leader of Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine research The incumbent will serve as Group Leader, responsible for championing NCVI’s S. pneumoniae vaccine research program. This role includes leading pathogen-orientated research and antigen discovery that results in an enhanced understanding of how to generate and maintain protective immunity against S. pneumoniae , specifically to prevent community-acquired pneumonia and the reduction of associated carriage initially in older adults. The research would involve studies of host-pathogen interactions at the molecular level with a focus on pathogenesis and the mechanisms leading to the establishment of infection & disease in the airways. This should allow research into how the immune system can be activated to prevent pathology, what profile of immunity such as Th1/Th17 responses and how to elicit durable responses. The Group Leader would be expected to define and prioritise vaccine antigen targets, including mucosal-delivered protein-based vaccines, polysaccharide-conjugates and whole-cell attenuated vaccines used as a complementation (and potentially synergistic) to the administration of currently licenced polysaccharide vaccines (PCV) that protect against invasive disease through intramuscular delivery. A state-of-the-art application of bacteriology, immunology, multi-omics, bioinformatics and machine learning tools will be essential to success. It is important that the incumbent leverages relevant animal models, 3D tissue models and potentially controlled human infection models (CHIMs) to better understand protective immune responses and robustly assess immune responses elicited by vaccination. The Group Leader will be expected to work in close collaboration with other Group Leaders, experts in structural biology, protein- and glycol-chemistry, vaccine platforms, airway immunity and vaccine formulation, both internally, as well as within the wider S. pneumoniae community. Professor, Group Leader of Influenza research The incumbent will serve as Group Leader with responsibility for championing NCVI’s Influenza program. The influenza research will encompass three principal areas. Firstly, the application of influenza for prototypic activities to fundamentally understand airway immunity in response to a viral infection, address the performance of vaccine platforms, and assess different adjuvant systems and formulations. Secondly, to advance the next generation of Broadly Protective Influenza Vaccines (BPIVs) to improve efficacy against seasonal influenza due to the antigenic shift of circulating strains. State-of-the-art applications in immunogen design, computational approaches and innovative structural protein biology may be required to elicit robust, broad and durable humoral and cellular effector responses, mucosal and systemic, as well as B and T cell tissue resident memory. Rather than pursue a single immunogen approach the incumbent will be expected to tackle combinations of innovative haemagglutinin, neuraminidase and other influenza protein constructs to advance next generation BPIV. Thirdly, to apply such innovations to improve the breadth of protection elicited by H5N1 pre-pandemic vaccines able to protect against disease from a range of putative emergent clades, and crucially to reduce transmission. In summary, this role includes leading pathogen-orientated research and antigen design that results in an enhanced understanding of how to generate and maintain broadly protective immunity against Influenza infection, disease and transmission. Other viruses may serve as model pathogens to further methods and innovations applicable for the influenza program and the totality of NIVI’s airway scientific agenda. The closing date for applications is 23.59 p.m. CET, Sunday, 19 January 2025. Pleae read the full job description and apply at the university homepage Show more Show less