Postdoctoral Fellow, Laboratory of Dr. Dannie Engle

About the role

The Engle Lab focuses on understanding the etiology and progression of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer to develop better prevention, diagnostic, and treatment strategies. Our research uses patient-derived organoids, molecular profiling, functional precision medicine, and in vivo models. Recent work established a comprehensive biobank of chronic pancreatitis patient-derived organoids and identified widespread CFTR dysfunction, including in patients without pathogenic CFTR mutations, revealing new opportunities to investigate targeted therapies for pancreatic disease. Job location: Salk Main Campus.

Responsibilities

• Lead the next phase of the patient-derived organoid program.
• Use patient-derived pancreatic organoids and complementary molecular and functional approaches to investigate CFTR and other ion-transport pathways.
• Characterize mechanisms of disease heterogeneity.
• Evaluate therapeutic responses across patient-specific models.

Qualifications

• PhD in a related field.
• Intellectually curious, collaborative, highly organized, and skilled in constructive problem solving.
• Strong project management skills: ability to independently drive projects forward, coordinate multiple experimental priorities and collaborations, maintain rigorous organization and documentation, and proactively identify and resolve roadblocks.
• Experience with mammalian cell culture and molecular biology (preferred).
• Experience with organoids, pancreatic or epithelial biology, CFTR/ion transport, sequencing-based approaches, or mouse models (a plus).

Pay

The full postdoctoral salary range for wet lab opportunities is $70,500–$78,000. This range covers the entire postdoctoral training period; recent Ph.D. graduates should expect an offer at or close to $70,500 (the minimum of the range). Pay is determined based on scope and responsibilities, qualifications, departmental budget availability, internal equity, and external market pay for comparable jobs. Experience level/tier mapping: 0 – $70,500; 1 – $72,000; 2 – $73,500; 3 – $75,000; 4 – $76,500; 5 – $78,000.

Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Retirement
• Paid time off
• Tuition reimbursement
• Patient advocacy services
• Transit/parking program