Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cellular and Molecular Medicine

Duties & Responsibilities

• Design and execute experiments using primary human endothelial cells hemodynamic shear stress conditions.
• Prepare and QC sequencing libraries including bulk RNA-seq, small RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and single-cell libraries.
• Perform genome-scale quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping analyses and genetic colocalization with genome wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics.
• Analyze single-cell and bulk genomics datasets using standard and custom bioinformatics pipelines.
• Contribute to grant writing, manuscript preparation, and presentations at national conferences.
• Mentor and support graduate students and other members of the laboratory.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Ability operating shear stress devices (cone-and-plate and parallel-plate systems) in a laboratory setting.
• Proficiency in sequencing library preparation, including bulk RNA-seq, small RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and single-cell sequencing protocols (10x Genomics and sci-RNA-seq3).
• Knowledge of genetic colocalization methods using GWAS and molecular QTL summary statistics.
• Working knowledge of large-scale biobank resources, particularly the All of Us Research Program and phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) frameworks.
• Biological knowledge of vascular cell types, endothelial function, and the pathobiology of atherosclerosis.

Minimum Qualifications

• Doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in human genetics, genomics, molecular biology, cell biology, or a closely related field, conferred prior to the start date.
• At least one first-author publication in a peer-reviewed journal in genetics, genomics, or vascular/cell biology.
• Demonstrated experience with next-generation sequencing data analysis, including RNA-seq or single-cell RNA-seq.
• Proficiency in at least one scripting or programming language used in genomics (R, Python, or Bash/Unix).
• Experience with primary mammalian cell culture in a BSL-2 laboratory setting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience culturing primary human endothelial cells, including aortic or microvascular subtypes.
• Experience with CRISPR-based functional assays or other molecular perturbation approaches in human cell lines.
• Experience with single-cell genomics analysis experience spanning preprocessing, dimensionality reduction, clustering, differential expression, and batch effect correction.
• Experience with QTL mapping (eQTL, sQTL, caQTL) including pipeline development and interpretation of cis-regulatory results.
• Strong publication record in genetics or vascular biology, with contributions to high-impact journals.
• Experience presenting original research at national scientific conferences (e.g., ASHG, NAVBO, AHA).
• History of mentoring junior researchers (undergraduate or graduate students) in laboratory or computational settings.

Benefits

Outstanding U of A benefits include health, dental, vision, and life insurance; paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; UA/ASU/NAU tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members; access to UA recreation and cultural activities; and more!