Postdoctoral Research Associate - David Solecki lab

St Jude Children's Research Hospital; Memphis (TN); On-site; USD 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis seeks postdoctoral fellows to help build imaging-based biosensor platforms that reveal chromatin states and cell polarity in living neurons and to test mechanistic questions in brain development.

Successful candidates will pursue independent projects using live-cell imaging, advanced microscopy, neuronal differentiation, perturbations, and quantitative image analysis; publish first-author work and present at meetings.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent in a relevant field (cell biology, biophysics, neuroscience)
• Experience with live-cell imaging and/or super-resolution microscopy
• Experience with imaging probe development is a plus
• Programming experience for data analysis (R, Python)
• Strong publication record and ability to design/execute experiments independently

Responsibilities

• Carry out independent research projects using live-cell biosensors and advanced microscopy
• Develop experimental approaches, probes, and imaging strategies to study neuronal maturation and brain circuit assembly
• Publish first-author work and present findings at national and international meetings
• Collaborate with PI and interdisciplinary team to design high-risk, high-reward experiments
• Document and troubleshoot experimental workflows and data analyses

Skills

Live-cell imaging

Super-resolution microscopy

Imaging probe development

Programming (R, Python)

Independent experimental design

Data interpretation

Education

PhD in cell biology, biophysics, gene regulation, neuroscience

Job description

The Solecki Lab is building imaging-based biosensor platforms that makes chromatin states and cell polarity decisions visible in living neurons and experimentally queryable as cell-biological systems. We are looking for postdoctoral fellows who do not simply want to perform experiments but wants to help build the experimental framework for understanding how cell biological transitions unfold as neurons mature and assemble into brain circuits......by watching these processes happen in real time.

Are you a trainee who wants to be scientifically invested in defining cell states like chromatin organization or cell polarity beyond the limits of indirect molecular biology or biochemistry approaches? Postdoctoral researchers in the lab will carry out their own independent research projects and make use of live-cell biosensors, advanced microscopy, neuronal differentiation systems, acute perturbations, and quantitative image analysis in order to find out how intracellular state transitions are organized in developing neurons. The aim is not merely to apply existing tools, but to help in the development of new experimental approaches, including probes, assays, imaging strategies, and perturbation methods, that make previously invisible cell biological processes visible, measurable, and capable of being tested mechanistically.

Successful fellows will have the opportunity to define a major project within the lab's broader effort to understand neuronal maturation, chromatin-state dynamics, polarity transitions, nuclear organization, and circuit assembly. Fellows will work closely with the PI and an interdisciplinary team to develop high-risk, high-reward experiments, generate first-author publications, present at national and international meetings, and build a scientific identity at the interface of developmental neurobiology, live-cell imaging, biosensor engineering, and quantitative cell biology.

Join a supportive multi-disciplinary lab comprised of biophysicists, optics experts, data scientists, cell-biologists and developmental neurobiologists that unravel how the brain is built during development. You will be on the ground floor of transformative biosensor platforms with exposure to cutting-edge imaging technologies like lattice light sheet or super-resolution platforms, data science core labs, and an unusually collaborative environment where new imaging probes, microscopy, and analytical methods converge on fundamental problems in brain development.

The Ideal Candidate will have:

• A PhD in cell biology, biophysics, gene regulation, neuroscience or related discipline
• Prior experience in live-cell imaging, super-resolution microscopy, and/or imaging probe development.
• Familiarity with programming languages (e.g. R, Python) for data analysis
• Strong record of peer-reviewed publications
• Ability to independently design and execute experiments and interpret data
• Ability for cogent experimental preparation, validation, documentation, and troubleshooting.

In your cover letter, please describe one experimental system, assay, protocol, or project that you personally helped build or improve. What was not working at first? What did you change? How did you know the system had become reliable? What discovery did it enable?

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis TN 38105, USA

St. Jude is an Equal Opportunity Employer