Post-Doctoral Position (Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics)

Candidates will be involved in the performance of big-data research, by bundling genetics, multi-omics, biomarker, clinical, and histopathological data, that harnesses the full range of biologically relevant data to better understand Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Our research covers three major areas:

1) Investigating sex dimorphism in Alzheimer’s disease genetics

2) Understanding the influence of ancestry and health disparities on Alzheimer’s disease genetics

3) Merging brain imaging with genetic and multi-omics data to examine disease heterogeneity and resilience.

Our research will contribute to the discovery of novel risk genes, steer basic research and drug development, and advance personalized medicine. Candidates will develop further expertise in the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias by learning state-of-the-art strategies to integrate a breadth of ‘omics (proteomics, single cell, etc.) and biomarker data (derived from plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, and neuroimaging) with genetic and clinical features of Alzheimer’s disease. They will also benefit from our integration with the world-renowned Knight-ADRC (expertise on genetics, neuroscience, brain imaging), the NGI (exceptional expertise on genetics and multi-omics data generation & processing), and the highly collaborative atmosphere at Washington University. This position is for a dry lab environment, with access to high-end computing resources (and budget for cloud computing), high-end personal computer equipment, and a private cubicle near Dr. Belloy. Base pay is $61,000/year, commensurate with experience.

Ideal Candidates should have:

• a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, Bioinformatics, Human/Statistical Genetics, Neuroimaging, Neurosciences, or a related field (with an emphasis on data science or statistical analyses of human subjects datasets).
• Knowledge on one or more of the following subjects: Genetics, Functional Genomics, Neuroimaging, Bioinformatics, and Big Data (knowledge on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias is not crucial).
• The ability to clearly communicate research findings through oral presentation and written publication.
• The ability to work independently and in a collaborative manner with a diverse group of scientists and clinicians.
• Experience working with population genetics, genomics, and (whole genome) sequencing data, as well as related analytical approaches (Plink, GWAS, gene-burden, QTL colocalization, mendelian randomization, etc.).
• Experience analyzing multi-omics data and cross-modal integration with genetics and imaging data.
• Experience working with data/statistical analyses in one or more of the following programming environments: R, Python, bash, MATLAB, JAVA, etc.
• Experience using computing clusters (batch processing), cloud computing services, and containerization.

The prospective candidate will be expected to lead research projects, publish in leading scientific journals and attend conferences. They will also participate in the formation of project proposals and participate in funding activities. The candidate will be strongly encouraged to develop their professional skills, including their writing, public speaking, networking, and ability to apply for independent fellowships and grants. Training will be provided in disciplines with which the candidate is less familiar. Information on being a postdoc at Washington University in St. Louis can be found at https://postdoc.wustl.edu/prospective-postdocs