Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, SOM, Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease

Benefits

• All full-time university staff are eligible for VCU’s robust benefits package that includes comprehensive health benefits, paid annual and holiday leave granted up front, generous tuition benefits, retirement planning and savings options, tax-deferred annuity and cash match programs, employee discounts, well-being resources, abundant opportunities for career development and advancement, and more.

Duties & Responsibilities

• The Stravitz‐Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health (SSI) is recruiting a highly motivated postdoctoral fellow to join the Saul Karpen lab.
• The research arc of the Karpen lab focuses upon wet bench validations of etiologic gene discoveries and therapeutic target identification for rare childhood liver diseases.
• Recent explorations have focused upon discovering etiologic causes of the # 1 reason to transplant a liver during childhood—biliary atresia.
• The successful candidate will develop and apply research methods to analyzing a first genetic model of biliary atresia, the Pkd1l1 conditional KO mouse, including evaluations of therapeutic efficacy.

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications:
• PhD in Molecular or Cellular Biology, Biochemistry, Physiology or other relevant discipline.
• Experience with mouse models of metabolic disease or hepatobiliary disease.
• Experience with cell signaling and developmental biology.
• Experience with membrane biology and bile acid signaling are strongly considered.
• Experience with primary cell culture, epithelial cells or organoids, with isolation and culture of mouse cholangiocytes a major prioritization.
• Experience with standard DNA, RNA and Protein analytics (imaging and immunoblotting).
• Experience with advanced confocal imaging and in vivo imaging are encouraged.
• Creativity and substantial evidence of productive publication history.
• Independence, scientific rigor and critical thinking.
• Demonstrated ability to work in and foster an environment of respect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from all backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a staff member at VCU.

Preferred Qualifications

• Salary Range: $62,232
• FLSA Exemption Status: EXEMPT
• Hours per Week: 40
• Rented Position: Yes
• ORP Eligible: Yes
• Months: 12 Months