Neurology Postdoc - Volpicelli-Daley

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Portal • Birmingham, AL

5d • Onsite

About The Position

The Volpicelli-Daley lab is seeking an Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s disease post-doctoral research fellow to study the impact of microglia on neuronal alpha-synuclein aggregate processing. This position will provide access to unique networking across the NIH and industry, career building, and presentation opportunities. Funding is currently in place for three years. Parkinson’s disease is the most common motor neurodegenerative disorder. Formation of alpha-synuclein aggregates and brain inflammation are key hallmarks of this neurodegenerative disease. Dysfunction of lysosomes has been implicated in both of these processes and can drive PD pathogenesis. The goal of the project is to utilize induce pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines with PD associated gene variants differentiated into microglia and neurons. The impact on lysosome function and pathologic alpha-synuclein processing will be determined.

Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship
• PhD in biomedical science
• Experience with cell culture
• Evidence of project leadership; able to drive direction of project from hypothesis generation to final publication
• Be able to proactively optimize and troubleshoot experiments using latest techniques
• Should enjoy the challenge of deconstructing an experiment and determining what worked and what failed and rebuilding the experiment to more robustly generate data that will influence the -PD field
• Ability to pivot strategies when faced with technical or conceptual hurdles
• Proficient in English language and scientific writing
• Ability to work in collaborative team environment

Nice To Haves

• Experience with cell biology
• Experience with neurodegenerative disease
• Willingness to help junior graduate students and technicians

Responsibilities

• Culture and differentiate microglia and neurons from iPSCs.
• Perform assays for lysosome dysfunction.
• Measure turnover and aggregation of alpha-synuclein.
• Design experiments in collaboration with Dr. Volpicelli-Daley.
• Collect and store data in an organized manner to yield clear, error-free results that are easily analyzed and shared with the scientific community.
• Maintain e-notebooks on a regular basis so that experiments can be easily replicated by others and data can be easily found.

Benefits

• Access to unique networking across the NIH and industry
• Career building opportunities
• Presentation opportunities

What This Job Offers

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