Postdoctoral Position in Digestive Diseases - Church Lab 2026-2027

University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

The Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and the Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience at UCLA seek full-time postdoctoral scholars for R01-funded projects exploring brain-gut microbiome mechanisms underlying stress-related disorders. You will work with Dr.

Arpana Church and collaborators on multimodal MRI and microbiome analyses in diverse human populations. Extensive mentorship is provided to transition to an independent research career, with opportunities to lead publications from day

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Psychology, Microbiome/Molecular Biology, or related field.
• Strong data analysis with large datasets and independent work style.
• Proficiency in R and Python for statistical modeling.
• Experience with neuroimaging or microbiome data analysis is preferred.
• First-author publications and strong scientific writing ability.
• Excellent written and spoken communication; highly motivated to publish.

Responsibilities

• Model complex datasets including imaging, gut microbiome, and behavioral data.
• Coordinate data collection with a team of research assistants.
• Contribute to grants and publish manuscripts.

Skills

Large data analysis

R

Python

Neuroimaging

Statistics

Scientific writing

Education

PhD in related field

Tools

Neuroimaging tools

Bioinformatics

HPC computing

Job description

The Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and the Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience in the Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Medicine at UCLA, are seeking full-time postdoctoral scholars for R01-funded projects studying the brain-gut microbiome mechanisms of action underlying stress-based disorders such as obesity and cognitive decline. The Centers are comprised of multidisciplinary teams conducting clinical, translational and basic research with human populations. The postdoctoral scholars will work directly with Dr. Arpana Church, and other faculty collaborators.

The projects use multimodal MRI sequences combined with measures of the gut microbiome and dimensional neuropsychiatric, behavioral and/or diet measures (i.e., tasks, questionnaires, heart rate variability, digital phenotyping, cognitive, diet, and clinical measures) to study structural and functional circuit dynamics in various diseases. There will be opportunities to develop translational and clinical research skills (e.g., target discovery, individualized treatment development and biomarker/predictor development), in addition to analysis methods and pipelines to address basic and pathophysiological systems biology questions. There will be many opportunities to lead high impact publications starting on day one. We will be working with existing unique datasets in addition to creating new ones.

Extensive mentorship will be provided to facilitate the transition to an independent research career.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Model complex datasets including imaging, gut microbiome, inflammation, metabolic markers, behavioral, diet, and clinical data.
• Coordinate the acquisition of data working with a team of research assistants.
• Be able to contribute to grants and publish manuscripts.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Psychology, Microbiome/Molecular Biology, Engineering, Epidemiology, Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science or a related field.
• Strong proficiency and independence with large data analysis platforms (such as neuroimaging or microbiome platforms), multivariate modeling strategies and network connectivity analyses.
• Established quantitative and statistical skills, including strong programming skills and comfort with diverse computing environments. Comfortable using R and/or Python.
• A demonstrated capacity to write first author publications.
• Great writing skills, motivated and driven to publish.

Additional Qualifications

• Background in bioinformatics systems, connectomics network analysis and machine learning modeling confer a very significant advantage.

The shared values of the DGSOM are expressed in the Cultural North Star, which was developed by members of our community and affirms our unswerving commitment to doing what’s right, making things better, and being kind. These are the standards to which we hold ourselves, and one another. Please read more about this important DGSOM program at Cultural North Star.