ILRI vacancy: Postdoctoral Veterinary Immunologist

The International Livestock Research institute (ILRI) is seeking to recruit a highly motivated postdoctoral veterinary immunologist who will play a crucial role in a project on African Swine fever vaccine development combined with leading the development of a program on porcine immunology as it relates to antigen identification and evaluation of novel vaccines at ILRI. This will make use of the new ILRI enhanced BSL2 level experimental pig unit and adjacent modern laboratories, including virus isolation facilities at ILRI. The project is funded by the German Ministry for Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

ILRI works to enhance the roles livestock play in pathways out of poverty in developing countries. ILRI is a member of the CGIAR Consortium, a global research partnership of 15 centres working with many partners for a food-secure future. ILRI has two main campuses in East Africa and other hubs in East, West and Southern Africa and South, Southeast and East Asia. www.ilri.org.

CGIAR is a global agricultural research partnership for a food-secure future. Its science is carried out by 15 research centres that are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. www.cgiar.org.

Key responsibilities:

• Identification of novel candidate ASFV antigens based on binding of peptides to expressed porcine SLA sequences identified in collaboration with Danish collaborators. This will involve application of the output of the predictive software NetMHC Pan trained using SLA/peptide binding data to identify potential novel T cell antigens in the ASFV genome;
• Experimental infection of pigs with candidate viral vectored vaccine antigens and East African ASFV isolates and evaluation of immunogenicity including, antibody responses and T cell activation by gamma interferon ELISPOT;
• Develop antigen presentation assays for assessment of T cell responses in vaccinated or infected animals based on immortalized autologous fibroblasts;
• Manipulation of East African ASFV to create attenuated viruses that can be used for dissection of T cell responses and screening of synthetic libraries using ELISPOT assays;
• Screening of a synthetic library peptide library derived from conserved ASFV genes with T cells induced by infection of pigs with ASFV.

Essential Skills and Qualifications will include:

• Degree in Veterinary Medicine;
• PhD in Veterinary Vaccinology/Immunology;
• Record of publication in international refereed journals;
• Experience in analysis of software for analyzing molecular data;
• Experience in sampling and experimental infection of pigs and porcine viral diseases will be an advantage but is not essential.

Post location: This position is based at ILRI’s Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

Duration: 24 months with a possibility of renewal, contingent upon individual performance and continued funding.

Position level: Postdoctoral fellow

Benefits: Base salary from USD 35,000 per annum depending on skills and experience. ILRI offers a competitive international remuneration and benefits package which includes: Medical insurance for staff and dependents, life insurance, education allowance for children, Housing allowance, Relocation Allowance, Annual Home leave, Annual holiday entitlement of 30 days +public holidays.

Benefits and salary are tax free. Subject to compliance with tax regulations of country of citizenship

Applications: Applicants should provide a cover letter and curriculum vitae: a list of publications and names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience should be included in the curriculum vitae. The position title and reference number: PL/PTVC/04/2014 should be clearly indicated in the subject line of the cover letter.

All applications to be submitted online on our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com on or before 11 May 2014.

To find out more about ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org

To find out more about working at ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org/ilricrowd/

ILRI is an equal opportunity employer.