Post-Doctoral Fellow - Microbiology and Immunology
About the role
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine is a premier academic medical center located in the heart of Richmond. The Department of Microbiology and Immunology is home to a vibrant community of researchers, educators and learners, with a strong history of research funding, striving to advance scientific knowledge in the biomedical sciences and inform medical advancements that improve patient outcomes.
Responsibilities
- Maintenance of Anaplasma phagocytophilum infected cultures, including maintaining uninfected and A. phagocytophilum infected myeloid, endothelial, and/or arthropod cell lines under sterile conditions on a bi-weekly basis
- Assessment of A. phagocytophilum interactions with eukaryotic host cells and mammalian hosts, including adhesin-receptor interactions, host cell signaling, effector delivery, cytoskeletal rearrangement, and bacterial entry
- Lab maintenance, including ordering, stock inventory, maintaining cleanliness, and autoclaving biohazardous waste
- Maintaining proper records, including diligently keeping a laboratory notebook of all experiments
- Writing manuscripts, grants, abstracts, including writing and editing drafts of manuscripts for publication, contributing data for extramural grant proposals, and writing abstracts of research for presentation at scientific conferences
Qualifications
- PhD or MD/PhD
- Experience in working with microbial pathogens
- Strong background in cell biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology, bacterial genetics, and/or yeast genetics
- Motivation for career development, commitment to driving federally funded high impact and high-quality research, and commitment to aggressively pursuing postdoctoral grants
- Ability to work independently
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in working with/cultivating Anaplasma phagocytophilum or other obligate intracellular bacteria in eukaryotic tissue culture
- Infection assays using intracellular bacterial pathogens
- Working knowledge of membrane trafficking pathways
- Experience using the mouse model to study microbial pathogenesis
- Using yeast as a model organism
Pay
The salary range is $63,480-$64,380 commensurate with experience per NIH postdoc payscale.
Benefits
All VCU employee types are eligible for a wide array of benefits to support you during your employment at VCU. Consult the benefits website for information on benefits eligibility according to employee type.
Schedule
This is a full-time position, working 40 hours per week, and is fully onsite.