Postdoctoral Researcher in clinical muscle and exercise physiology

Division
The position is within the research group of Dr Eva Pontén at the Neuropediatrics Unit, Section for Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, Dept of Women’s and Children’s health, Karolinska Institutet. Dr Pontén’s lab is focused on skeletal muscle contracture development in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Current efforts include mechanistic studies in animal models and children with CP as well as clinical exercise intervention studies.

Description of the project
Children with CP present muscle weakness and decreased physical fitness when compared with typically developed children. Despite the numerous exercise-like rehabilitation approaches used, current programs have failed to show significant, long-lasting improvements in both resistance and aerobic performance of children with CP. The current postdoc project is focused on developing rehabilitation programs using either flywheel resistance exercise or racerunning on children and young adults with CP, thus analyzing adaptations induced by high-intensity resistance exercise or aerobic exercise. Functional performance, muscle quality and activity, and general fitness will be evaluated.

The position is 75% of full time (30 hours per week) and available for 6 months with possible extension, from April 2017.

Entry requirements
A person is eligible for a position as postdoctoral research fellow if he or she has obtained a PhD no more than seven years before the last date of employment as postdoc. One requirement for receiving a scholarship for postdoctoral studies is central registration as a postdoc.

Qualifications
Applicants to this position must have a PhD. Previous experience in resistance and aerobic exercise with healthy subjects and patients suffering from neurological disorders (e.g. CP, stroke, multiple sclerosis) is required. The successful applicant should have expertise in conducting clinical trials testing exercise tools and protocols for rehabilitation purposes. In addition, experience measuring and analyzing force, power and muscle activity and structure (ultrasound and MRI), together with maximal oxygen uptake and functional tests is preferable. Good command of the English language is a prerequisite.

Application process
An employment application must contain the following documents in English:

1. A complete curriculum vitae, including date of the thesis defence, title of the thesis, previous academic positions, academic title, current position, academic distinctions, and committee work
2. A complete list of publications
3. A summary of current work (no more than one page)
4. Verifications for crediting of illness, military service, work for labour unions or student organisations, parental leave or similar circumstances

The application is to be submitted through the MyNetwork recruitment system.

Applications will be administered throughout the application period.