Post-doctoral Fellow in Drug Delivery, Nanomedicine & Advanced Therapeutics

Role Overview
Post-doctoral Fellow in Drug Delivery, Nanomedicine & Advanced Therapeutics at the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy (several posts) (Ref.: 536520). The University of Hong Kong invites applicants to join the Lab of Drug Delivery, Nanomedicine & Advanced Therapeutics at the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, LKS Faculty of Medicine. The lab, led by Professor Khuloud Al-Jamal, aims to use nanotechnology to better understand, diagnose and treat diseases with particular interests in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. It is a highly collaborative and multidisciplinary lab eager to create an impact on people’s lives taking research a step beyond the lab. Research projects include extracellular vesicles & cell therapy, immunotherapy, and nucleic acids therapeutics for brain cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

Responsibilities
- Design and develop small molecules, nucleic acids and peptide therapeutics.
- Design, prepare and characterize nanoparticles.
- Employ state-of-the-art techniques to assess the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles, ensuring their stability, drug release kinetics, encapsulation efficiency and electron microscopy imaging.
- Integrate innovative approaches to enhance the specificity and efficiency of advanced therapeutics, with a particular emphasis on addressing challenges related to tissue penetration and targeted delivery.
- Conduct cell culture studies using cell lines, primary cultures and/or patients' tissues for efficacy evaluation.
- Conduct in vivo studies, including administration of nanoparticles, monitoring fate, therapeutic response, and assessing the impact on disease progression.
- Develop relevant disease models to assess therapeutic efficacy of a specific treatment.
- Demonstrate understanding of the disease pathology for better design of advanced therapeutics.
- Coordinate with clinical collaborators to obtain ethical approvals and obtaining human tissue samples for subsequent studies.
- Engage in collaborative projects both internally and externally.
- Periodically report progress to PI, co-investigators, project collaborators, and project funder.
- Initiate and contribute to grant writing activities.
- Write study-specific procedures for analytical methods, protocols, and reports and provide training on processes and equipment.
- Supervise and co-supervise undergraduate and postgraduate students.
- Disseminate research findings through the preparation of research articles and presentations at international conferences.
- Foster an agile and friendly working environment within the research group.

Requirements and Qualifications
Education and Expertise:
- Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacology, Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Immunology, Bioengineering, Chemistry, Data Science or related fields.
- Post-doctorate experience preferred.
- Proven track record in conducting high-quality biological or chemical research.
- Demonstrated history of writing reports and scientific articles based on research results.

Research Skills:
- Strong background in various research areas including pre-clinical studies, image-guided delivery, nucleic acid therapeutics, targeting and therapeutic aptamers/peptides, immunotherapy, RNA biology, nose-to-brain delivery, blood brain barrier targeting, nanoparticle formulation, peptide therapeutics, T cells therapy, extracellular vesicles, cancer vaccines, brain cancer, motor neuron disease, protein corona, hydrogels, and gene therapy/editing.
- Hands-on experience in advanced cell culture techniques and in vivo models.
- Proficiency in various cell and molecular biology experimentation techniques like PCR, gels, Western blotting, Immunohistochemistry, ELISA and flow cytometry, immune profiling.
- Experience in bioconjugations.

Desirable Skills:
- Highly desirable skills include various in-vivo tracking modalities and imaging techniques for monitoring drug delivery dynamics.
- Additional advantageous skills involve working with patient tissue handling and culturing, surgical implantation of brain cancer, cryo-electron microscopy, transcriptome, proteome, single cell sequencing and bioinformatics, iPSC derived cells, tissue organoids and/or tissue slices, analytical techniques e.g. LC-MS, liquid scintillation, HPLC, MS, NMR.

Administrative and Collaborative Skills:
- Ability to manage a research programme financially and administratively under the guidance of the Principal Investigator.
- Ability to work independently with excellent problem-solving skills, collaborate within a team, and supervise students.
- High attention to detail in experimental design and execution with a willingness to adapt to new procedures and undergo further training as necessary.

Language and Technical Competence:
- Excellent command of written and spoken English.
- Capable of writing grants and contributing to additional funding acquisition.
- Proficient in IT skills for efficient data management and communication within the research programme.

What They Offer
- The appointment will commence as soon as possible on a temporary basis for 1 year, with the possibility of renewal up to 3 years subjected to satisfactory performance and funding availability.
- A highly competitive salary commensurate with qualifications and experience will be offered.
- Other benefits include annual leave, medical benefits and free access to on-campus gyms and libraries.