Postdoctoral Research fellow - Boston, United States - Choudhury Lab
Description
The Choudhury Lab in the Department of Genetics and Genomics at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School is seeking highly motivated postdoctoral fellows with a passion for studying genetics and heart diseases, including congenital heart disease. The positions offer a minimal annual salary of $60,000 and are adjustable based on research experience.
The mission of the Choudhury Lab is to examine the contribution of somatic genetic variation in healthy human heart development and in heart diseases. Our work spans the direct investigation of the human heart tissue to using cell lines and model systems. Our aim is to identify novel somatic mutations in the healthy and diseased human heart, to examine their developmental origins and functional impact at the level of individual cells, and to find new drugs and targets that could be leveraged for the development of targeted and disease-modifying therapies. Dr. Choudhury and her team discovered that aged human heart cardiomyocytes accumulate somatic mutations faster than any other cell type with a distinguished cell-specific mutational signature. Our current research directions that are relevant to this position include 1) Identifying novel forms of somatic genetic variation in healthy and diseased human hearts using new sequencing approaches such as duplex and long read sequencing, 2) Understanding the cell type of origin and pathogenic mechanisms of somatic mutations in cardiac diseases using novel single cell and spatial transcriptomics and epigenomics, iPSC-derived co-culture models, and mouse experimental frameworks.
We are a dynamic team of molecular biologists, cardiovascular geneticists, and bioinformaticians. We were conducting cutting-edge research utilizing single-cell genomics and transcriptomics approaches. We develop interdisciplinary methods, including experimental techniques, technology development around single cells from the heart, and computational and statistical genetics/genomics methods. Choudhury Lab is very well funded through grants from the NHLBI, the NIH Common Fund, and departmental startup funds. The candidates will have access to many institutional and Harvard-wide fellowships. For more information, please check out our website.
Candidate qualifications include:
PhD and/or MD in genetics/genomics, molecular biology, cardiovascular biology, proteomics/biochemistry, or other related fields. Demonstrated expertise in one or several of the following areas: Human genetics, including the experimental and analytical aspects of next-generation sequencing. Single-cell genomics and/or spatial biology. IPS-based model systems for cardiac biology applications, including 2D and 3D cultures. Gene editing, including high-throughput CRISPR screens and prime/base editing. Proficiency in basic molecular biology, including cloning, cell culture, immunostaining, and microscopy. Strong quantitative and analytical skills, and familiarity with one or multiple programming languages including R/python/MATLAB. Track record of first-author original research papers. Strong oral and written communication skills. To apply, please send a cover letter describing your previous experiences and future research goals along with your CV and three references to
Boston Children's Hospital is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, is one of the top-ranked hospitals in the United States for many years and is widely regarded as a premier research institution. The Choudhury lab is located in the Longwood Medical area of Boston, adjacent to the Harvard Medical School campus, which facilitates easy and frequent collaboration with many world-renowned institutions in the greater Boston area, including Harvard, MIT, and the Broad Institute. Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School are fully committed to promoting equity and diversity, as well as fostering a workforce that represents a broad spectrum of backgrounds and perspectives.