Post-Doctoral Fellow - School of Medicine / Neurology

Advertising Summary: Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine is a premier academic medical center located in the heart of Richmond. Accounting for almost half of VCU’s sponsored research, the School of Medicine is internationally recognized for patient care and education. All full-time university staff are eligible for our generous benefits package that includes choices for health, vision, and dental coverage, life-insurance, short and long-term disability coverage, retirement planning, tax-deferred annuity and cash match programs, flexible spending accounts, tuition benefits, significant paid-time off, 12 paid holidays, and more. Explore our benefits further here: https://hr.vcu.edu/current-employees/benefits/university-and-academic-professional-benefits/

Unit: School Of Medicine MBU

Department: Neurology

Department Summary: The Department of Neurology has a talented, robust team of faculty and staff members spanning nine divisions includes representatives from every neurology subspecialty in adult and child neurology, plus award-winning educators, clinical and translational neuroscientists and master clinicians.

The Center for Inherited Myology Research is a multi-disciplinary translational research group focused on understanding and developing genetic therapies for muscular dystrophy. The Johnson and Carrell labs are specifically interested in the genetics of myotonic dystrophy and gene therapy for limb girdle muscular dystrophy.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Maintain, characterize, and genetically engineer patient-derived cells
• Develop and validate novel assays to quantify disease severity
• Establish cell culture SOPs
• Provide technical support for ongoing mouse studies (behavioral assays, tissue processing and analysis)
• Upkeep reliable notebook of experiments, approach, and data analysis.

• Work with lab technicians and graduate students in the lab
• Attend and contribute in lab meetings and/or journal clubs

• Present work at regular internal lab meetings
• Submit abstracts and present work at national and international meetings
• Submit or help to write, edit, or contribute to grant proposals.

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications

• PhD in genetics, molecular biology, or similar area
• Experience (2 – 3 years) with cellular modeling including: immortalized and primary culturing, genetic disease modeling, flow cytometry, lentiviral applications, genetic/drug screens, CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis
• Experience (2 – 3 years) with cell and tissue microscopy (IF, IHC)
• Interest in basic and translational work performed in a team environment
• Ability to apply basic laboratory techniques to new applications (western blot, PCR, RNA analysis)
• Independent and creative problem-solving skills
• Demonstrated ability to work in and foster an environment of respect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from various backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a postdoctoral fellow at VCU

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated productivity through publications and grant applications
• Experience (2 – 3 years) with mouse handling (husbandry, basic behavioral assays) and tissue harvesting

Salary Range: $62,652 - $67,000

Benefits: All VCU employee types are eligible for a wide array of benefits to support you during your employment at VCU. Consult the benefits website for information on benefits eligibility according to employee type.

FLSA Exemption Status: Exempt

Hours per Week: 40

ORP Eligible: Yes

Flexible Work Arrangement: Hybrid

Contact Information:
Contact Name: Eric Hunsley
Contact Email: eric.hunsley@vcuhealth.org