Postdoctoral Associate - Neal Laboratory

Description & Requirements

The Broad The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard is one of the world's leading biomedical research institutes. It seeks to discover the molecular basis of major human diseases, develop effective new approaches to diagnostics and therapeutics, and disseminate discoveries, tools, methods, and data openly to the entire scientific community.

Founded in 2004, the Broad Institute includes faculty, professional staff, and students from throughout the MIT and Harvard biomedical research communities, with collaborations spanning the globe.

The Lab The Neal laboratory (www.neallab.org) within the Broad Institute’s Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease has an exciting opportunity for a postdoctoral associate to join a diverse multidisciplinary group performing cutting-edge research on the molecular, cellular and genetic mechanisms of cancer and cardiometabolic disease.

This individual will play an essential role in the team’s efforts to advance the translation of disease genetics into an understanding of underlying molecular and cellular disease mechanisms and identification of actionable therapeutic hypotheses.

Job Requirements We are seeking a creative, proactive, resourceful, and highly-motivated individual to lead research efforts aimed at understanding gene regulatory networks and cellular programs affecting disease development in cancer and cardiometabolic disorders.

The successful candidate will apply a variety of cutting-edge technologies, including the latest in genome engineering, CRISPR-based screens, pooled optical screens, single-cell sequencing-based approaches and high-content imaging to dissect molecular mechanisms and characterize the phenotype of disease-relevant cell models.

This position will be an integral part of a multidisciplinary team and, thus, will require close collaboration with experimental and computational scientists to achieve the main goal of determining the fundamental mechanisms by which genes and genetic variants contribute to disease.

The candidate will address fundamental scientific questions, formulate hypotheses, design and execute experiments, analyze and interpret data, train and mentor junior colleagues, and write and publish original papers, often in close collaboration with other lab members and internal or external collaborators.

• Develop and implement functional genomics techniques and high throughput screening strategies to assess variant and gene effects in disease-relevant read outs and high-dimensional profiling assays.
• Design, plan, and execute projects and experiments independently while working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team.
• Document, compile, analyze, and interpret experimental data.
• Attend and participate in lab and project meetings, including preparing reports and presenting progress toward project goals.
• Train, supervise, and mentor other lab members.
• Make significant contributions to scientific papers, presentations, and funding proposals.

Minimum Qualifications

• Ph.D. in bioengineering, cancer biology, molecular / cellular biology or related field.
• Experience in mammalian cell culture. Experience in molecular biology techniques, including library construction and next-generation sequencing.
• Experience in genetic perturbation screens (e.g. shRNA, CRISPR)
• Experience in optical imaging techniques (e.g. confocal, multiphoton, light sheet microscopy).
• Experience with immunostaining and in situ hybridization.
• Strong critical thinking, research, and analytical skills.
• Must be highly disciplined and organized.
• Must be able to work independently as well as part of a multidisciplinary team in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment.
• If not computationally trained, must be willing to learn.
• Must have excellent written and verbal communication skills. The successful candidate will be expected to pursue outside fellowship funding where possible

Preferred Qualifications

• Not required, but candidates with expertise in one or more of the following areas will be given priority. Proficiency in Python and / or experience executing pre-built analysis pipelines.
• Spatial -omics approaches (e.g. in situ sequencing, MERFISH, CODEX, SABER).
• Computational image analysis / computer vision approaches. Single-cell sequencing methods (e.g. RNAseq, ATAC-seq).
• Large scale CRISPR screening and deconvolution. Develop and implement functional genomics techniques and high throughput screening strategies to assess variant and gene effects in disease-relevant read outs and high-dimensional profiling assays.

Design, plan, and execute projects and experiments independently while working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team.

Document, compile, analyze, and interpret experimental data. Attend and participate in lab and project meetings, including preparing reports and presenting progress toward project goals.

Train, supervise, and mentor other lab members. Make significant contributions to scientific papers, presentations, and funding proposals.