Postdoctoral Associate

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

Composed of more than 2,600 faculty physicians and researchers, nearly 2,000 students, and more than 6,200 staff, the Duke University School of Medicine along with the Duke University School of Nursing, and Duke University Health System comprise Duke Health, a world-class academic medical center. The Health System encompasses Duke University Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Duke Health Integrated Practice, Duke Primary Care, Duke Home Care and Hospice, Duke Health and Wellness, and multiple affiliations.

The Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI) continues to lead cutting edge vaccine research against infectious diseases that impact global health. Basic science discoveries made using a variety of human and pathogen-derived proteins, designed, expressed and purified by a collaborative DHVI team have contributed to the identification of vaccine and therapeutic candidates currently being produced in Good Manufacturing Practice facilities for early phase clinical trials.

• PhD in Immunology, Data Science and/or related fields.
• MD/PhD with molecular biology research experience.
• Must have experience with analyzing omics data.
• Familiarity or direct experience with analysis of 10x Genomics data sets using Cell Ranger pipeline and additional analysis tools is desired.
• Must have writing experience; manuscript, grant and/or abstracts for scientific meetings.

• Must be able to manage multiple and rapidly changing priorities and have ability to quickly learn new skills.
• Must be detail‑oriented, well organized with strong communication skills and ability to work in an interactive team environment.
• Must have a desire to design, execute, analyze, archive, review wet lab experiments in a manner that is scientifically justifiable, reliable and understandable to others under the guidance of your supervisor.
• Understand and comply with all safety standards and procedures to ensure a safe working environment for all laboratory staff.
• Collaborate with other staff and perform other duties as requested by the Principal Investigator or senior lab staff.

A HIV-1 Envelope (Env) vaccine that elicits broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) has remained elusive, in part due to our limited understanding of the mechanisms of bnAb induction during natural infection. Dr. Williams has been awarded a NIH UM1 grant to develop new vaccine strategies that can induce more protective immune responses in the non-human primate (NHP) model by exploring innovative mRNA constructs for immunogen delivery that can elicit both protective and therapeutic B and T cell responses.

Recently, Dr. Williams was also awarded a NIH U01 grant to develop new vaccine strategies that can induce antibodies in early-life capable of preventing HIV-1 infection in pediatric populations. This computational immunobiology postdoctoral position is appropriate for a candidate who is enthusiastic and willing to undertake multiple molecular biology and computational approaches to evaluate host immunity elicited by candidate HIV vaccines when administered prophylactically, and/or HIV vaccines when administered therapeutically in combination with novel immunotherapies.

The Williams lab has state-of-the-art equipment for single cell omics assays and support for computing power for data analyses. Here at DHVI, we value collaborations, and pride ourselves in providing an excellent environment for academic and professional growth.

Join our award-winning team and be part of an inclusive culture that values excellence, innovation, and discovery. Duke University is consistently…