Research Post Doctoral Fellow - Qian Lab

Research Postdoctoral Fellow - Qian Lab

The Qian Lab, located in the BRIDGE Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, is dedicated to understanding how the human cerebral cortex develops, and how this process can go awry in neurodevelopmental disorders.

• Designing and executing research projects with guidance from the PI, including project planning, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation.
• Performing wet lab experiments, such as stem cell and organoid culture, neural differentiation, molecular assays, imaging, and perturbation experiments, and/or computational analyses, such as transcriptomics, spatial data analysis, electrophysiology analysis, and neural activity modeling, depending on expertise and project needs.
• Developing and optimizing novel experimental and/or analytical methods for human brain organoid systems, molecular and spatial readouts, imaging, or functional analysis of neural activity.
• Potentially contributing to functional assays for human cortical organoids, including MEA or high-density MEA recordings, stimulation paradigms, closed-loop experimental designs, calcium imaging, or complementary approaches to measure neural activity.
• Analyzing and integrating datasets from electrophysiology, imaging, single-cell or spatial transcriptomics, genetics, and perturbation experiments.
• Preparing manuscripts for publication and contributing to grant proposals.
• Participating in lab meetings, institutional seminars, journal clubs, and national conferences.
• Mentoring and training junior lab members, including research assistants, students, or interns.
• Collaborating on additional projects across the lab as needed.

Education & Experience

• Doctorate
• Background in neuroscience, stem cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, developmental biology, computational biology, bioinformatics, biomedical engineering, electrophysiology, or related fields.
• Experience with human pluripotent stem cell culture, neural differentiation, brain organoids, tissue engineering, or related human cellular models.
• Experience with molecular biology, imaging, transcriptomics, spatial omics, perturbation experiments, disease modeling, or quantitative analysis of cellular phenotypes.
• Experience with MEA, high-density MEA, patch-clamp electrophysiology, calcium imaging, optogenetics, stimulation paradigms, closed-loop systems, or other approaches for measuring or manipulating neural activity would be valuable but is not required.
• Computational skills in Python, MATLAB, R, or related platforms, particularly for time-series analysis, signal processing, machine learning, bioinformatics, single-cell/spatial omics, or multimodal data integration, would be valuable.
• Interest in cortical development, neural circuit maturation, activity-dependent plasticity, neurodevelopmental disorders, epilepsy, environmental neurotoxicity, or human disease modeling.
• Strong motivation, scientific curiosity, and the ability to work both independently and collaboratively.