Postdoctoral Research Associate - Pediatrics Infectious Diseases

Washington University in St. Louis

5d • Onsite

About The Position

Position Summary The Morley lab seeks an ambitious and motivated post-doctoral fellow to drive a research project addressing their choice of several open questions regarding pulmonary immunity against bacterial infections. Dr. Morley is a physician scientist with a clinical subspecialty in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and with a keen interest in effective host immunity against Streptococcus pneumoniae, a pathogen that causes millions of deaths a year worldwide. Her R01-funded laboratory primarily uses mouse models to study 1) How the actin-bundling protein L-plastin supports immune cell function, with open projects on structure-function analysis and on how L-plastin promotes NLRP3 inflammasome activation, 2) A new project analyzing how mechanotransduction controls pulmonary immune cell development and activation, 3) How a novel single nucleotide variant in a mitochondrial protein (Coenzyme Q6) regulates basal and inflammatory metabolic programs, and how these programs affect immune responses to pathogens and in response to other environmental challenges, and 4) A new translational project analyzing human specimens obtained from subjects with active bacterial infections that builds on findings from the mouse research. Ideally a candidate will have expertise in multiple wet lab techniques, including mouse handling experience, flow cytometry, ELISAs, immunoblots, and tissue culture. A candidate must also meet high standards of integrity, responsibility and maintain excellent records. It is also expected that a competitive post-doctoral candidate will have completed a Ph.D. thesis and/or an M.D. degree, and authored at least one peer-reviewed manuscript. The Morley lab is centrally situated on the WashU medical campus with easy access to core facilities. The lab is surrounded by other labs engaged in robust, clinically oriented research endeavors, and Dr. Morley has established collaborators in multiple WashU departments, including the Dept. of Pathology/Immunology, the Dept. of Medicine, the Dept. of Molecular Microbiology, and the Dept. of Cell Biology & Physiology. Job Description Primary Duties & Responsibilities: Information on being a postdoc at WashU in St. Louis can be found at https://postdoc.wustl.edu/prospective-postdocs-2/.

Requirements

• Ph.D., M.D. Or Equivalent Terminal Or Doctoral Degree.

Nice To Haves

• Collaboration
• Data Analysis
• Data Interpretations
• Experimentation
• Laboratory Operations
• Laboratory Techniques
• Researching
• Results Reporting
• Scientific Writing

Responsibilities

• Assists with grant preparation and reporting.
• Prepares and submits papers on research.
• Assists in the design of research experiments.
• Evaluates research findings and assists in the reporting of the results.
• Conscientious discharge of their research responsibilities.
• Maintains conformity with ethical standards in research.
• Maintains compliance with good laboratory practice including the maintenance of adequate research records.
• Engages in open and timely discussion with their mentor regarding possession or distribution of material, reagents, or records belonging to their laboratory and any proposed disclosure of findings or techniques privately or in publications.
• Collegial conduct towards co-trainees, staff members and members of the research group.
• Adherence to all applicable University policies, procedures and regulations.
• All data, research records and materials and other intellectual property generated in University laboratories remain the property of the University.

What This Job Offers

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