AI-Driven Immunology Research Fellow

Merck & Co.; Cambridge (MA); Hybrid; USD 82,000 - 92,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck & Co. is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Cambridge to advance AI-guided functional immunology.

You will develop perturbation modeling integrating single-cell transcriptomics, functional genomics, and organoid models to uncover immunological disease mechanisms and generate experimentally validated insights. The role emphasizes designing active learning strategies, interpretable ML models, and collaboration with data science, immunology, and translational teams.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, AI/ML, CS, Immunology, or related quantitative discipline.
• Proven research productivity: publications/preprints.
• Ability to communicate complex concepts to multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Advance AI/ML methods linking single-cell foundation models with functional perturbation data.
• Develop interpretable, reproducible approaches to predict perturbation effects on cell states.
• Design perturbation designs with experimental groups and feed data back into models.
• Develop active learning or Bayesian optimization for perturbation testing strategies.
• Evaluate out-of-distribution generalization and model benchmarks.

Skills

Machine learning

Deep learning

Data science

Python

PyTorch

Single-cell omics

Communication

Education

PhD in Computational Biology or related field

Tools

PyTorch

CRISPR

Organoid models

Job description

Merck & Co. is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Cambridge to advance AI-guided functional immunology.

You will develop perturbation modeling integrating single-cell transcriptomics, functional genomics, and organoid models to uncover immunological disease mechanisms and generate experimentally validated insights. The role emphasizes designing active learning strategies, interpretable ML models, and collaboration with data science, immunology, and translational teams.