Academic Research Scientist- School of Medicine, Pathology

Emory • Atlanta, GA

12h • Hybrid

About The Position

The Sekaly Lab at Emory University's School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, is seeking a dynamic translational scientist with expertise in human immunology, immunogenomics, single-cell multi-omics, immune profiling, and assay development. This role involves leading the design, optimization, and application of advanced experimental and computational workflows to investigate immune regulation, antiviral immunity, vaccine responses, cancer immunology, and disease pathogenesis. The position integrates experimental immunology, single-cell multi-omics, functional assays, and computational/AI approaches to advance systems biology and translational research. The Academic Research Scientist will function as a highly skilled contributor with significant authorship on publications and possess advanced knowledge of laboratory and experimental platforms essential for research programs.

Requirements

• PhD and two years of professional level experience in a technical or research lab OR master's degree and four years of professional level experience in a technical or research lab OR bachelor's degree and six years of professional level experience in a technical or research lab.
• Laboratory experience should be based on area of assignment.
• Internship experience or experience prior to attaining the qualifying degree is not considered eligible work experience for this job classification.

Nice To Haves

• Proven expertise in single-cell genomics, immune profiling, flow cytometry/FACS, and functional immune assays.
• Demonstrated experience working with human clinical specimens, primary immune cells, and complex biological samples.
• Strong knowledge of immune-cell biology, host–pathogen interactions, vaccine responses, and mechanisms of immune regulation.
• Experience generating and interpreting high-dimensional single-cell and/or multi-omics datasets.
• Demonstrated ability to independently design, execute, troubleshoot, and lead complex research projects.
• Demonstrated leadership in collaborative research, mentorship, team coordination, and scientific communication.
• Working knowledge of bioinformatics and ability to effectively collaborate with computational scientists.
• Ability to translate computational discoveries into experimentally testable biological hypotheses.
• Experience with 10x Genomics scRNA-seq, immune-receptor sequencing, CITE-seq, scATAC-seq, or related technologies.
• Experience with BCR/TCR repertoire analysis and antigen-specific B-cell or T-cell profiling.
• Experience with spatial transcriptomics and epigenomic technologies.
• Experience with CRISPR/Cas9, lentiviral systems, cellular engineering, or functional perturbation approaches.
• Experience with stem cells, organoid, 3D culture, or advanced cellular models.
• Experience developing bioinformatics pipelines for single-cell and multi-omics datasets.
• Experience applying machine learning or AI approaches to biological and immunological datasets.
• Experience with translational research, clinical collaborations, or industry partnerships.
• Track record of publications, collaborative research, grant contributions, and/or technology development.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and conduct research experiments.
• Oversee quality and training of other team members.
• Lead the development and implementation of integrated single-cell workflows, including scRNA-seq, CITE-seq, BCR/TCR sequencing, and scATAC-seq.
• Develop and optimize sample-processing, cell-isolation, sorting, fixation, and library-preparation workflows for high-quality multi-omic profiling.
• Evaluate, implement, and adapt emerging single-cell, spatial transcriptomics, sequencing, and immune-profiling technologies.
• Drive innovation in experimental platform development through hands-on experimentation, optimization, troubleshooting, and strategic planning.
• Design and implement functional and mechanistic immune assays to validate findings from multi-omics studies.
• Develop perturbation strategies using CRISPR/Cas9, lentiviral approaches, RNA-based methods, or pharmacological modulation in collaboration with relevant specialists.
• Investigate immune-cell activation, differentiation, exhaustion, memory, antigen specificity, and therapeutic responses using high-dimensional approaches.
• Integrate single-cell transcriptomics, immune-receptor repertoires, phenotypic profiling, and functional assay data to identify mechanisms and biomarkers.
• Partner with computational scientists to analyze multi-modal datasets and develop reproducible bioinformatics and AI/ML-based analytical workflows.
• Work closely with academic, clinical, and industry collaborators to co-develop novel assays, reagents, technologies, and translational research programs.
• Lead studies involving human clinical specimens and relevant preclinical models of HIV, cancer, infectious disease, and vaccine responses.
• Mentor postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, research scientists, and junior laboratory personnel.
• Contribute to scientific strategy, NIH grant writing, collaborative proposals, manuscript preparation, presentations, and intellectual-property development.
• Help define scientific priorities and establish standardized, reproducible assay and data-generation protocols across projects.

Benefits

• Emory University offers a comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off, in addition to other benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree