Postdoctoral Research Associate – Pediatrics Infectious Diseases Full-time

Post-Doctoral Fellow Position

The Morley lab seeks an ambitious and motivated post-doctoral fellow to drive a research project addressing several open questions regarding pulmonary immunity against bacterial infections. Dr. Morley is a physician scientist with a clinical subspecialty in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and with a keen interest in effective host immunity against Streptococcus pneumoniae, a pathogen that causes millions of deaths a year worldwide. Her R01-funded laboratory primarily uses mouse models to study how the actin-bundling protein L-plastin supports immune cell function, with open projects on structure-function analysis and on how L-plastin promotes NLRP3 inflammasome activation. A new project analyzes how mechanotransduction controls pulmonary immune cell development and activation. Another project examines how a novel single nucleotide variant in a mitochondrial protein (Coenzyme Q6) regulates basal and inflammatory metabolic programs, and how these programs affect immune responses to pathogens and in response to other environmental challenges. A new translational project analyzes human specimens obtained from subjects with active bacterial infections that builds on findings from the mouse research. A candidate must have expertise in multiple wet lab techniques, including mouse handling experience, flow cytometry, ELISAs, immunoblots, and tissue culture. It is expected that a competitive post-doctoral candidate will have completed a Ph.D. thesis and/or an M.D. degree, and authored at least one peer-reviewed manuscript.

The Morley lab is centrally situated on the WashU medical campus with easy access to core facilities. The lab is surrounded by other labs engaged in robust, clinically oriented research endeavors, and Dr. Morley has established collaborators in multiple WashU departments, including the Dept. of Pathology/Immunology, the Dept. of Medicine, the Dept. of Molecular Microbiology, and the Dept. of Cell Biology & Physiology.

Primary duties include assisting with grant preparation and reporting, preparing and submitting papers on research, assisting in the design of research experiments, evaluating research findings and assisting in the reporting of the results, conscientious discharge of research responsibilities, maintaining conformity with ethical standards in research, maintaining compliance with good laboratory practice including the maintenance of adequate research records, engaging in open and timely discussion with the mentor regarding possession or distribution of material, reagents, or records belonging to the laboratory and any proposed disclosure of findings or techniques privately or in publications, collegial conduct towards co-trainees, staff members and members of the research group, and adherence to all applicable University policies, procedures and regulations.

This position works in a laboratory environment with potential exposure to biological and chemical hazards. The individual must be physically able to wear protective equipment and to provide standard care to research animals. Salary range is base pay commensurate with experience.

Required qualifications include a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent terminal or doctoral degree. Preferred qualifications are not specified. Collaboration, data analysis, data interpretations, experimentation, laboratory operations, laboratory techniques, researching, results reporting, and scientific writing are skills that are beneficial.