Postdoctoral Research Associate - David Solecki lab

Location: Memphis, TN | Category: Postdoc | Department: Developmental Neurobiology | Shift: Weekday Day | Position Type: Full Time | Scheduled Weekly Hours: 40 | Req #: JR7469

About the role

The Solecki Lab is building imaging-based biosensor platforms that make chromatin states and cell polarity decisions visible in living neurons and experimentally queryable as cell-biological systems. We are looking for postdoctoral fellows who do not simply want to perform experiments but want to help build the experimental framework for understanding how cell biological transitions unfold as neurons mature and assemble into brain circuits by watching these processes happen in real time.

Are you a trainee who wants to be scientifically invested in defining cell states like chromatin organization or cell polarity beyond the limits of indirect molecular biology or biochemistry approaches? Postdoctoral researchers in the lab will carry out their own independent research projects and make use of live-cell biosensors, advanced microscopy, neuronal differentiation systems, acute perturbations, and quantitative image analysis in order to find out how intracellular state transitions are organized in developing neurons.

The aim is not merely to apply existing tools, but to help in the development of new experimental approaches, including probes, assays, imaging strategies, and perturbation methods, that make previously invisible cell biological processes visible, measurable, and capable of being tested mechanistically. Successful fellows will have the opportunity to define a major project within the lab's broader effort to understand neuronal maturation, chromatin-state dynamics, polarity transitions, nuclear organization, and circuit assembly.

Fellows will work closely with the PI and an interdisciplinary team to develop high-risk, high-reward experiments, generate first-author publications, present at national and international meetings, and build a scientific identity at the interface of developmental neurobiology, live-cell imaging, biosensor engineering, and quantitative cell biology.

Responsibilities

• Carry out independent research projects using live-cell biosensors, advanced microscopy, neuronal differentiation systems, acute perturbations, and quantitative image analysis
• Develop new experimental approaches including probes, assays, imaging strategies, and perturbation methods
• Define and lead a major project within the lab's focus on neuronal maturation, chromatin-state dynamics, polarity transitions, nuclear organization, and circuit assembly
• Collaborate with the PI and interdisciplinary team to design and execute high-risk, high-reward experiments
• Generate first-author publications
• Present research at national and international meetings
• Build a scientific identity at the intersection of developmental neurobiology, live-cell imaging, biosensor engineering, and quantitative cell biology

Requirements

• PhD in cell biology, biophysics, gene regulation, neuroscience, or related discipline
• Strong record of peer-reviewed publications
• Ability to independently design and execute experiments and interpret data
• Ability for cogent experimental preparation, validation, documentation, and troubleshooting

Skills

• Prior experience in live-cell imaging, super-resolution microscopy, and/or imaging probe development
• Familiarity with programming languages (e.g., R, Python) for data analysis

Benefits

• Supportive multi-disciplinary lab environment comprising biophysicists, optics experts, data scientists, cell biologists, and developmental neurobiologists
• Exposure to cutting-edge imaging technologies such as lattice light sheet and super-resolution platforms
• Access to data science core labs
• Unusually collaborative environment where new imaging probes, microscopy, and analytical methods converge on fundamental problems in brain development
• Opportunity to be on the ground floor of transformative biosensor platforms