POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE

About the role

The Duke Anesthesiology Microbiome Profiling (AMP) Laboratory, under Dr. Mara Serbanescu, seeks a full-time Postdoctoral Associate to support clinical and translational research focused on the role of the microbiome and host immune responses in critical illness.

Responsibilities

• Screens ICU patients for study eligibility using the EPIC electronic medical record and communicates with clinical teams.
• Approaches patients and/or legally authorized representatives for study consent.
• Collaborates in coordinating and performing longitudinal biospecimen collection, including blood, rectal swabs, oral swabs, urine, stool when available, and other protocol-specified samples.
• Performs light sample processing, labeling, documentation, storage, and handoff of human biospecimens for downstream microbiome, immune, biomarker, and metabolomic assays.
• Maintains accurate study documentation, including REDCap/clinical databases, and assists with clinical data abstraction from the EPIC electronic medical record.
• Supports protocol updates, SOP development, and other research operations as needed.
• Participates in laboratory meetings and study team meetings.
• Contributes to data summaries, basic statistical analyses, abstracts, presentations at local/national conferences, manuscripts, and grant-related materials, depending on experience and interest.

Qualifications

• PhD, MD, DO, PharmD, DVM, or equivalent doctoral degree in a relevant field, including but not limited to medicine, public health/epidemiology, biomedical sciences, nursing, pharmacy, microbiology, immunology or a related discipline.
• Strong interest in clinical or translational research.
• Willingness to participate directly in patient-facing research activities, including screening, consent, and biospecimen collection from critically ill patients in accordance with institutional biosafety, infection prevention, and human subjects research policies.
• Strong interpersonal skills and comfort initiating conversations with patients and families in high-acuity, emotionally charged clinical settings.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Comfort working in a hospital, operating room, and ICU environment.
• Ability to work independently while also collaborating effectively with a multidisciplinary team.
• Ability to manage multiple study tasks, time-sensitive sample collections, and detailed documentation.