Post Doctorate Research Associate- Integrated Health Science

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory • Richland, WA

10d

About The Position

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments that we refer to as Directorates within the Lab, focused on a specific area of scientific research or other function, with its own leadership team and dedicated budget. Our Science & Technology directorates include National Security, Earth and Biological Sciences, Physical and Computational Sciences, and Energy and Environment. In addition, we have an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus. The Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate (EBSD) leads critical research in four areas: Atmospheric, Climate & Earth Sciences, Biological Sciences, Environmental Molecular Sciences, and Global Change. Our vision is to develop a predictive understanding of biological and Earth systems in transition. We aim to understand energy and material flows within the integrated Earth system; to understand, predict, and control the response of biosystems to environmental and/or genomic changes; and to Model the Earth system from the subsurface to the atmosphere. The Biological Sciences Division has 17 collaborative, interdisciplinary biology-based teams to tackle major challenges in ecosystem sustainability, bioenergy, human health, and national security. Teams use unique field sites, advanced instrumentation, and integrated computational approaches to explore molecular-scale processes. Strategic efforts focus on advancing molecular measurement capabilities, uncovering the structure and function of molecular dark matter, identifying control points in complex systems, and developing domain-aware AI to accelerate discovery and hypothesis-driven research. This position will support the Multiscale System Science Group’s Strategic Scientific Objective on identifying control points for manipulating multiscale systems. Multiscale System Science Group is seeking a highly motivated Post-Doctoral Research Associate mass spectrometry-based multi-omics analysis of samples related to human metabolism and toxicology. PNNL hosts a world-class capability in mass spectrometry and systems biology, including renowned scientists, cutting-edge instrumentation, robust computational resources. The candidate is expected to lead experiments, data analysis and manuscript writing.

Requirements

• Candidates must have received a PhD within the past five years (60 months) or within the next 8 months from an accredited college or university.

Nice To Haves

• Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Human Physiology, Chemical Biology, Cell Biology, Chemistry, Toxicology, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated expertise in human metabolism and cell signaling.
• Hands-on experience in preparing and analyzing chemical proteomics and other omics samples.
• Proficiency with bioinformatics workflows and tools for analysis of mass spectrometry data.
• Experience using scripting languages such as Python or R for data processing, analysis, and visualization.
• Strong communication skills and a commitment to collaborative, interdisciplinary science.
• Motivation to write and publish high-quality research and contribute to open science practices.
• Hands-on experience in tissue culturing.

Responsibilities

• Prepare samples, analyze and interpret multi-omics datasets (e.g., chemical proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics global proteomics and analysis of post-translational modifications) from clinical and cell culture samples
• Conduct metabolism assays and identify metabolites to determine the biological fate of small molecules
• Use chemical biology approaches to identify potential molecular initiating events of toxicants and elucidate mechanisms of toxicity and disease progression
• Interact, communicate, and problem-solve with a diverse team of multi-disciplinary research staff across PNNL
• Work safely and independently in a laboratory setting
• Write papers and maintain a strong track record in peer-reviewed journals
• Present research projects at national conferences

Benefits

• Employees and their families are offered medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, robust telehealth care options, several mental health benefits, free wellness coaching, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, basic life insurance, disability insurance, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, tuition assistance, relocation, backup childcare, legal benefits, supplemental parental bonding leave, surrogacy and adoption assistance, and fertility support.
• Employees are automatically enrolled in our company-funded pension plan and may enroll in our 401 (k) savings plan with company match.
• Employees may accrue up to 120 vacation hours per year and may receive ten paid holidays per year.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees