Lead Researcher in Hematology Full-time

At St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, advancing treatment for children with catastrophic diseases is at the center of everything we do. At St. Jude, highly-driven and talented physicians and scientists work together in a collaborative environment, where you can see, firsthand, how your science translates into survival for the children we serve.

We are looking for a talented and enthusiastic Lead Researcher to take a key role in our Blue Sky-funded project PARADIGM .

PARADIGM, which stands for Partnership to Advance Development of Individualized Genomic Medicines, is an exciting and bold initiative from the Department of Hematology, with the long-term goal of developing individualized genome-editing medicines to cure inherited monogenic bone marrow failure (BMF) disorders. PARADIGM, supported by $5 million in institutional Blue Sky funding, aims to develop novel genome editing tools and establish preclinical models to test safety and efficacy of genome editors to cure BMF disorders.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a multidisciplinary team working on cutting-edge technology to develop advanced, precise and individualized genomic medicines for the future.

About the Position:

PARADIGM, led by Drs. Mitchell Weiss, Shengdar Tsai, Marcin Wlodarski and Senthil Bhoopalan, is focused on multiple BMF disorders including Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA). DBA is caused by haploinsufficiency of ribosomal protein (RP) genes. Mutations in 23 out of the 83 RP genes have been reported to cause DBA so far. DBA presents as severe anemia, requiring frequent red blood cell transfusions. The DBA team, under Senthil Bhoopalan, MBBS, PhD, is housed within the laboratory of Mitchell Weiss, MD, PhD, Endowed Chair, Department of Hematology. We are focused on developing gene therapy for DBA using advanced genome editing tools. As part of our team, you will have the opportunity to work with a talented multidisciplinary team of scientists and physicians towards preclinical development of individualized genomic medicine for patients with DBA. The ideal candidate will have a combination of experience with molecular biology, biochemical studies and cell culture techniques.

Job Responsibilities:

• Perform studies to develop genome editing strategies of human hematopoietic stem cells.
• Characterize the efficacy and potency of the cellular drug product in in vitro and xenotransplantation assays.
• Interact and collaborate with multidisciplinary team to advance the program.
• Perform biochemical and cell biology-based experiments to evaluate efficacy of genome editing strategies
• Development of high throughput assays to screen for efficient guide RNAs and genome editing proteins
• Isolation, expansion, genetic manipulation, and differentiation of patient-derived hematopoietic cells
• Single cell sequencing of patient-derived hematopoietic cells

Minimum Education and/or Training:

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant scientific area is required

Minimum Experience:

• Five (5) years of relevant, post-degree work experience is required
• Two (2) years of relevant post-degree work experience is required with a Master’s degree
• No experience is required with a PHD

Other Information

St. Jude is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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Tagged as: Life Sciences