Postdoc: AI-Driven Lab Automation in Structural Biology

Instruct-ERIC; Upton (NY); On-site; USD 71,900 - 119,000; Full time

Job summary

Brookhaven National Laboratory’s National Synchrotron Light Source II seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate for AI-driven Lab Automation for Life Sciences for an on-site position in the Biological, Environmental and Planetary Science Division.

The aim is to advance the frontiers of structural biology by developing AI-driven methods for improving crystal quality at scale, enabling new discoveries in life sciences and biotechnology relying on structural biology methods.

Qualifications

• PhD in computer science, bioinformatics, biophysics, applied mathematics, or related field.
• Expertise in machine learning, computer vision, or image analysis.
• Experience with data management and databases.
• Experience working with Python, scientific software development, version control and collaborative code development, such as Git.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement AI-enabled workflows for automated crystallization screening, optimization, and characterization integrating imaging, experimental metadata, and diffraction outcomes.
• Design and deploy computer vision methods to detect and track crystal growth.
• Develop closed-loop optimization approaches to recommend crystallization conditions and harvesting strategies based on experimental feedback.
• Develop, train and integrate AI/ML models with laboratory automation systems, including crystallization robotics, liquid handlers, and imaging platforms.
• Build scalable data pipelines linking experimental metadata, imaging data, and diffraction results for high-throughput analysis.
• Evaluate model performance using experimental metrics and support deployment into user-facing workflows.
• Collaborate with synchrotron beamline scientists and laboratory and crystallization staff.
• Document methods and results, contribute to manuscripts and reports, and present the work at conferences.
• Participate in interdisciplinary team science.

Skills

Machine learning

Computer vision

Image analysis

Data management

Python

Git / version control

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Strong publication record

Education

PhD in computer science, bioinformatics, biophysics, applied mathematics, or related field

Job description

Brookhaven National Laboratory’s National Synchrotron Light Source II seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate for AI-driven Lab Automation for Life Sciences for an on-site position in the Biological, Environmental and Planetary Science Division.

The aim is to advance the frontiers of structural biology by developing AI-driven methods for improving crystal quality at scale, enabling new discoveries in life sciences and biotechnology relying on structural biology methods.