Research Principal Sr

This position is in the laboratory of Daniel Wonjae Chung, MD, PhD, part of the Translational Neuroscience Program in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. The lab conducts postmortem and computational research to understand synaptic disruptions that lead to working memory deficits in schizophrenia. The role is grant‑funded.

Responsibilities

• Mentor, train, and assist with supervising junior research staff.
• Provide advanced research, clinical, and administrative support for the study, including preparing and presenting presentations, analyzing and interpreting data, and collaborating with the principal investigator on manuscripts, scientific articles, and grant submissions.
• Execute postmortem studies, including expansion microscopy, nanoscale imaging, and post‑image processing.
• Oversee lab organization, assist with recruitment and staff supervision, and help plan, coordinate, and supervise research projects and lab experiments/procedures.
• Collect and analyze data, and prepare results for scientific presentations and publication.
• Provide operational oversight of basic‑science research and instrumentation.
• Perform duties in accordance with system‑wide competencies/behaviors and other assigned tasks.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree (preferably in psychology, neuroscience, counseling, sociology, or a related research field) with a minimum of three years of work experience in a research project and/or related clinical setting; or PhD in one of the same fields with at least one year of relevant experience.
• Familiarity with computers and common software packages.
• Working knowledge of research methodology.
• Prior supervisory experience preferred.
• Licensure, certifications, and clearances: Act 34.

Skills

• Hands‑on experience in immunofluorescence staining of brain tissue sections and quantitative confocal and/or super‑resolution microscopy.
• Ability to write and troubleshoot code in Python or MATLAB for quantitative post‑image processing and analysis.
• Record of first‑authored publications demonstrating the ability to carry a project from data collection through analysis to publication.
• Familiarity with computational modeling of neural circuits (advantageous).