Postdoctoral Research Associate – Hybrid Computational–Experimental Scientist in Bacterial Drug Response

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital • Memphis, TN

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About The Position

We are seeking an interdisciplinary postdoctoral researcher to join our lab at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to develop new experimental–computational approaches for studying bacterial drug responses and phenotypic heterogeneity at single-cell resolution. Our group integrates bacterial single-cell RNA-seq, long-read sequencing, functional genomics, microbiome models, and quantitative analysis to understand how pathogens adapt in hosts and respond to antimicrobial compounds. This position is ideal for someone with both computational strength and interest in experimental systems—or vice versa—who wants to grow into a scientific leader at the interface of data and biology.

Requirements

• Has a PhD in computational biology, microbiology, systems biology, engineering, physics, CS, or a related field.
• Has strength in either experimental microbiology or data analysis, and strong interest in growing in the other direction.
• Enjoys working in collaborative, fast-moving research environments.
• Is motivated to develop new methods and biological insights in parallel.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with bacterial genetics, functional genomics, or drug-response assays.
• Familiarity with scRNA-seq, genomics, or multimodal datasets.
• Training in statistics, modeling, or machine learning.
• Interest in building experimental platforms or screening systems.

Responsibilities

• Combine experimental and computational approaches to analyze bacterial responses to antibiotics and host-like conditions.
• Develop and apply statistical or machine-learning methods for interpreting single-cell and genomic datasets.
• Work closely with wet-lab scientists to design perturbation experiments and screening strategies.
• Help build scalable platforms for linking genotype, cell state, and drug response.
• Contribute to manuscripts and grant proposals in high-impact journals.
• Participate in mentoring and shaping the lab’s interdisciplinary culture.

What This Job Offers

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