POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE
Duke University

Job Info

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School of Medicine:

Established in 1930, Duke University School of Medicine is the youngest of the nation's top medical schools. Ranked tenth among its peers, the School takes pride in being an inclusive community of outstanding learners, investigators, clinicians, and staff where traditional barriers are low, interdisciplinary collaboration is embraced, and great ideas accelerate translation of fundamental scientific discoveries to improve humanhealth locally and around the globe.

Comprised of 2,400 faculty physicians and researchers, the Duke University School of Medicine along with the Duke University School of Nursing and Duke University Health System create Duke Health. Duke Health is a world-class health care network. Founded in 1998 to provide efficient, responsive care, the health system offers a full network of health services and encompasses Duke University Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Duke Primary Care, Private Diagnostic Clinic, Duke Home and Hospice, Duke Health and Wellness, and multiple affiliations.

POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE

The Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI) performs basic and translational research to fight against major infectious diseases. DHVI is seeking Postdoctoral Associates to join our team in developing vaccines for HIV and beta-coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2. The Duke Human Vaccine Institute is an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental institute dedicated to the study of host-pathogen interactions that can be translated into biologics and vaccines. DHVI is composed of a team of highly interactive investigators that have expertise in mucosal and systemic immunology, virology, molecular and structural biology, computational biology, and animal medicine. With these expertises, the DHVI is working collaboratoratively to develop vaccines and countermeasures against pathogens like HIV, SARS-CoV-2, and influenza.

We are recruiting highly-motivated individuals with backgrounds in computational biology including computational genomics and transcriptomics and computational protein design to join our team dedicated to the design of protective vaccines. The Postdoctoral Associate will work independently to develop and apply computational biology methods to areas that include studying the antibody response in HIV or SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals, identifying and further improving HIV and coronavirus antibodies for use as therapeutics, and designing immunogens for use as components in HIV and coronavirus vaccines. The multi-disciplinary approach to vaccine development at DHVI will afford the Postdoctoral Associate exposure to many areas of vaccine research with a multitude of opportunities to contribute computational biology methods and analysis to the efforts to fight the HIV and COVID19 pandemics. Under the guidance of the Principal Investigator, the candidate will be responsible for developing methodology, performing data analysis, designing and executing experiments, presenting the results at internal and external meetings, and drafting scientific publications. These studies will have a large impact on vaccines that are translated to first-in-humans clinical trials. More specifically, the Postdoctoral Associate will perform some or all of the following activities:

Develop methodologies for the analysis of high throughput B cell repertoire sequencing data including transcriptomics data from infected or vaccinated subjects.Develop methodologies for analyzing B cell evolution in response to vaccination or infectionComputational design of antibodies to improve their ability to broadly neutralize diverse virus isolates for use as antibody therapeutics.Computational protein design for development of immunogens for HIV and coronavirus vaccines.Computational protein design of HIV and coronavirus proteins for use in immunoassays.Design, develop and implement computational programs to assist with the performance of the above activities.Present scientific results at meetings and publish results in peer-reviewed journals.Training in bioethics, laboratory management, and scientific writing.Maintain accurate laboratory documentation of experiments, including raw experimental data and laboratory notebooks.

The position requires a PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, structural biology and biophysics, and biochemistry, or a related discipline and a strong record of publications in peer-reviewed journals. The candidate is expected to have a strong background in computer programming and familiarity working in a high-performance computing environment. Ideal candidates will possess excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to work in a highly collaborative team environment.

Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas-an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essentialjob functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.

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