Career Opportunities

Job Type: Regular

Time Type: Full time

Work Shift: Day (United States of America)

FLSA Status: Exempt

When you join the growing BILH team, you're not just taking a job, you’re making a difference in people’s lives.

Project Description:
We are excited to announce a unique joint postdoctoral position between the labs of Dr. Giuseppe Pettinato (https://pclrc.org/) and Dr. Sizun Jiang (www.sizunjianglab.com) at BIDMC/Harvard Medical School. The selected candidate will have the unparalleled opportunity to work collaboratively between both labs, focusing on cutting-edge research to unravel the complex viral pathogenesis of Hepatitis B using liver organoids models. The candidate will be ideally trained on the generation of liver organoids and their subsequent infection using HBV viruses.

Research Focus:
The postdoctoral fellow will employ high containment BSL2+ practices and advanced quantitative in situ spatial technologies to dissect the intricate host-immune responses to Hepatitis B Virus, including spatial-omics and cell avidity measurements. The candidate will establish infection of liver organoids with neo-synthetized HBV viruses and test various aspects of the host immune response to the viral infection. This interdisciplinary project aims to bridge virology, immunology, and biotechnology, offering insights that could pave the way for innovative therapeutic interventions and vaccines.

Key Responsibilities:
Conduct comprehensive studies on hepatitis B virus-related pathogenesis using hiPSC-differentiated liver organoids.
Utilize and optimize in situ spatial technologies to analyze host-immune responses.
Perform quantitative analysis of data generated from these approaches.
Collaborate effectively with a team of multidisciplinary scientists.
Publish findings in peer-reviewed journals and present at international conferences.
Contribute to the development of grant proposals.

Qualifications:
PhD in Virology, Immunology, Molecular Biology, or a related field.
Strong background in viral pathogenesis and immunological studies.
Experience with in situ spatial technologies, and/or data and computational analysis is highly desirable.
Experience with cell culture (stem cells preferable), and biomolecular techniques (such as qPCR, Western Blot, ELISA, etc).
Familiarity with programming languages such as R/Python and bash for working with large datasets.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Ability to work independently and collaboratively.

What We Offer:
Access to state-of-the-art laboratories and facilities

Job Description:

Primary Responsibilities:

- Abides by the institutional policies of BIDMC relating to health and safety, equality of opportunity and data storage and management. (essential)

- As a member of the research team, actively pursues research under the supervision of a principal investigator while developing skills for independent work. (essential)

- Receives training in and performs duties contributing to the investigational work of the team including formulation of research questions and design, conduct of experiments, and evaluation of results. (essential)

- Prepares and publishes scientific manuscripts under direction of PI. (essential)

- Develops expertise in desired lab skills/informatics/ physics/clinical research. Develops proficiency with research tools and equipment. Develops ability to work with more independence as the fellowship progresses (essential)

- Develops new ideas that promote current research; brings new expertise to the research program. (essential)

- teaching skills and provide supervision of students and their projects when appropriate. (essential)

- Engages in collaborative meetings with other research groups. Attends and leads scientific seminars. (essential)

- Learns to identify, acknowledge and correct deficiencies in one's own performance. (essential)

- Under the direction of PI, pursues/secures independent funding near the end of the fellowship. (essential)

Required Qualifications:

• Doctoral Degree or M.D.

• 0-1 year of postdoctoral research experience in academic or industrial lab setting, and/or teaching assistantship in a university setting, and/or residency, and/or clinical duties beyond that of the qualifying doctoral degree.

Competencies:

Decision Making: Ability to make decisions that are guided by general instructions and practices requiring some interpretation. May make recommendations for solving problems of moderate complexity and importance.

Problem Solving: Ability to address problems that are varied, requiring analysis or interpretation of the situation using direct observation, knowledge and skills based on general precedents.

Independence of Action: Ability to follow precedents and procedures. May set priorities and organize work within general guidelines. Seeks assistance when confronted with difficult and/or unpredictable situations. Work progress is monitored by supervisor/manager.

Written Communications: Ability to summarize and communicate in English moderately complex information in varied written formats to internal and external customers.

Oral Communications: Ability to comprehend and communicate complex verbal information in English to medical center staff, patients, families and external customers.

Knowledge: Ability to demonstrate in-depth knowledge of concepts, practices and policies with the ability to use them in complex varied situations.

Team Work: Ability to lead collaborative teams for larger projects or groups both internal and external to the Medical Center and across functional areas. Results have implications for the management and operations of multiple areas of the organization.

Customer Service: Ability to provide a high level of customer service and staff training to meet customer service standards and expectations for the assigned unit(s). Resolves service issues in the assigned unit(s) in a timely and respectful manner.

Physical Nature of the Job:
Light work: Exerting up to 20 pounds of force frequently to move objects. Some elements of the job are sedentary, but the employee will be required to stand for periods of time or move throughout the hospital campus.

As a health care organization, we have a responsibility to do everything in our power to care for and protect our patients, our colleagues and our communities. Beth Israel Lahey Health requires that all staff be vaccinated against influenza (flu) and COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Learn more about this requirement.

More than 35,000 people working together. Nurses, doctors, technicians, therapists, researchers, teachers and more, making a difference in patients' lives. Your skill and compassion can make us even stronger.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled