Post Doctoral.Associate
University of Pittsburgh · Pittsburgh, PA · 1 mo ago
AnalystFull-time
About the role
We are seeking a highly motivated and productive postdoctoral researcher to contribute to federally funded projects in machine learning, regulatory genomics, single-cell multi-omics, spatial transcriptomics, and precision oncology. The successful candidate will apply and develop computational methods, take ownership of research projects, and advance them toward reproducible software, scientific deliverables, and peer-reviewed publications.
Responsibilities
- Lead computational projects from study design and data processing through modeling, validation, biological interpretation, and publication.
- Analyze large-scale bulk, single-cell, multi-omic, and spatial datasets.
- Develop and evaluate machine-learning methods for classification, prediction, multimodal integration, and regulatory inference.
- Apply rigorous validation practices, including appropriate data partitioning, cross-validation, baseline comparisons, external validation, and assessment of bias and generalizability.
- Develop reproducible, well-documented, version-controlled, and open-source software.
- Prepare publication-quality figures, manuscripts, presentations, and grant reports.
- Collaborate effectively with computational, experimental, and clinical investigators.
- Provide regular, structured progress updates and communicate challenges, absences, or anticipated delays promptly.
- Meet agreed-upon milestones and deadlines, respond constructively to feedback, and complete revisions and action items.
- Support the mentorship of junior researchers, as appropriate.
Requirements
- PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, biostatistics, statistics, mathematics, computer science, or a related quantitative field.
- Strong programming skills in Python and/or R.
- Demonstrated expertise in machine learning, statistics, omics data analysis, or computational biology.
- Understanding of model selection, regularization, overfitting, data leakage, class imbalance, performance evaluation, and generalization.
- Ability to translate broad research objectives into specific analyses, timelines, and deliverables with limited supervision.
- Demonstrated ability to independently plan, implement, troubleshoot, and complete computational research projects.
- Evidence of completing projects through peer-reviewed publications, software releases, or other substantive research outputs.
- Ability to critically evaluate and justify analytical decisions rather than relying uncritically on existing pipelines or AI-generated outputs.
- Strong scientific writing, communication, collaboration, and project-management skills.
- Demonstrated reliability, accountability, responsiveness to feedback, and ability to follow projects through to completion.
- Maintain accurate and reproducible research records; protect confidential, controlled-access, and human-subject data; report findings, uncertainty, and limitations transparently; follow institutional requirements for research ethics, authorship, data provenance, responsible AI use, and responsible conduct of research.
Skills
- Experience with single-cell, multi-omic, spatial transcriptomic, proteomic, or cancer genomic data.
- Experience with deep learning, graph neural networks, attention-based models, multimodal learning, or regulatory network inference.
- Familiarity with PyTorch or TensorFlow, high-performance computing, and reproducible workflow development.
- A record of leading computational projects or first-author manuscripts from analysis through publication.