Postdoctoral Position - Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research

Postdoctoral program: In vivo functional imaging and behavioral phenotyping based large scale CRISPR and ENU genetic screens 

The goal of this project is to define the genetic pathways that control behavior and homeostasis. The Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) (headquartered in Cambridge, MA) focus on basic discoveries that, hopefully, can in the long run be translated into therapeutic opportunities. This particular project is driven by desire to understand behavior at a fundamental genetic level. In particular, we are interested in the control of social behavior, the interaction of individuals, and control of the internal environment of the animal, for example, of cardiovascular physiology. Screens in adult zebrafish give us the chance to examine both. These observations may have relevance to mental and cognitive disorders, and to the autonomic dysfunction that characterizes many diseases.  

The postdoctoral scientist would participate in performance and phenotypic analysis of targeted mutagenesis and large-scale genetic screens focused on social behavior and homeostatic control. Analysis is performed by advanced multiphoton in vivo live imaging and Machine Learning-assisted behavioral phenotyping platforms. Additionally, post-doc scholars have opportunities to collaborate with 105 other postdoctoral fellows mentored by a range of scientists across disciplines and platforms, including chemistry, structural biology, molecular biology, functional genomics, neurophysiology and translational medicine. Postdoctoral scholars at NIBR have a unique opportunity to conduct innovative, interdisciplinary basic research and are expected to publish their results in leading journals. The postdoctoral term is up to 4 years.

Qualifications:

v  PhD or extensive prior experience in genetics, zebrafish, molecular pathways, cardiovascular biology, neuroscience, imaging, or animal behaviors, or equivalent fields.

v  Should have a track record in science, with excellent skills in genetics, imaging or animal behavior, or background in programming languages, such as C++, Python.

v  Candidates must be able to work independently as well as with interdisciplinary teams.

For more information about the projects, please contact Peixin Zhu (Peixin.Zhu@novartis.com); To apply, please visit: http://postdoc.nibr.com/peixin-zhu.html