Call for applications for a fully financed PhD fellowship
Antibodies are essential components of the immune system, protecting us from infections by recognizing and neutralizing foreign molecules. However, antibodies can also recognize the body’s own proteins. These autoantibodies arise when immune tolerance is disrupted and are traditionally associated with autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and immune thrombocytopenia. Increasingly, however, it has become clear that autoantibodies are not restricted to autoimmune disease. They can be detected in healthy individuals, change throughout life, emerge during infections, and have been linked to both harmful and potentially beneficial effects in a range of diseases.
This emerging picture points towards a much more complex and dynamic autoreactome, a diverse repertoire of autoantibodies and their targets that contributes to how the immune system interacts with the body. Importantly, the biological effect of an autoantibody depends not only on what it recognizes, but also on properties such as its affinity, isotype and precise binding site. Understanding this diversity therefore requires moving beyond simply asking whether an autoantibody is present, towards understanding which individual antibodies are present, what they recognize, and what they actually do.
Despite major advances in antibody repertoire analysis, we still have a limited understanding of the diversity and functional significance of individual autoreactive antibodies. Conventional approaches typically measure antibody responses at the population level, potentially masking rare antibodies and important functional differences between individual cells and antibodies.
Aim of the project:
In this PhD project, you will investigate autoreactive antibodies at single-cell resolution using advanced experimental and analytical approaches. The project will investigate the diversity, specificity and activity of autoreactive antibodies in health and disease. The overall goal is to generate a deeper understanding of the human autoreactive antibody repertoire and determine how individual autoantibodies may contribute to immune function and disease.
Applicants should hold a Master's degree in medicine, biomedicine, immunology, molecular biology, bioinformatics, bioengineering, chemistry, or a related field.
We are looking for a highly motivated and curious researcher with a strong interest in the intersection of immunology, bioanalytical chemistry, single-cell technologies and data science. Experience with one or more of the following would be advantageous: bioanalytical methods, single-cell analysis, antibody biology, molecular biology, flow cytometry, sequencing or computational/data analysis. A willingness to work across disciplinary boundaries and to learn new experimental and computational approaches is more important than expertise in all of these areas.
The project has a strong translational and methodological focus. Therefore, an interest in developing robust methods that can ultimately be applied to real biological and clinical questions is highly desirable.
The candidate should have excellent communication skills and be able to work effectively in an interdisciplinary research environment. Fluency in written and spoken English is required..
Please submit your application via this link. Application deadline is 25 September 2026 at 23:59 local Danish time. Preferred starting date is 1 December 2026.
For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide.
Please contact Associate Professor Klaus Eyer, eyerk@biomed.au.dk, for more information.
All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with applicable collective agreement.
