Postdoctoral Research Fellow - McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics

The Kim Lab at the University of Houston is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow in computational antibody engineering and AI-driven drug design. You will work directly with Dr. Yejin Kim at the intersection of machine learning, structural biology, and therapeutic antibody discovery — with close, day-to-day collaboration with a dedicated wet-lab validation team embedded within the same group.

We are part of the Department of Health Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at UTHealth, home to a collaborative research environment with access to H100/H200 GPU-accelerated compute servers, a cryo-EM facility, and a therapeutic antibody core facility. Recent project scope includes, but is not limited to, language model-based antibody affinity maturation, de novo antibody design, and antibody discovery using B cell repertoire.

Houston is home to the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world, giving our team direct access to clinical collaborators, translational resources, and a thriving biotech ecosystem.

Candidates must be self-driven, with a demonstrated record of completed projects and publications showing the ability to move fluidly between computational modeling and experimental interpretation.

• Conceptualize original research questions at the intersection of machine learning, structural biology, and therapeutic antibody engineering
• Lead the design and execution of computational research programs, from hypothesis generation through manuscript preparation
• Author and co-author papers targeting high-impact journals in computational biology, structural biology, and chemical biology (e.g., Nature, PNAS, Nature Communications, npj digitial medicine, Neural
  
  IPS)
• Present findings at national and international conferences, building your independent scientific profile

• Design, implement, and benchmark ML pipelines for mutation effect prediction, fitness landscape modeling, and generative antibody design using protein language models (ESM2/ESM3) and structure-based scoring
• Build reproducible, version-controlled workflows for Alpha
  
  Fold2/3, Rosetta/FoldX ddG estimation, and antibody–antigen complex analysis
• Develop and maintain shared computational infrastructure and documentation for team-wide use

• Work closely with wet-lab partners to translate computational predictions into experimentally testable hypotheses — design the experiment, not just the model
• Interpret SPR, BLI, ELISA, and SEC-HPLC data and feed results back into model retraining and active learning loops
• Participate in joint design–test–learn meetings, co-authoring experimental design documents spanning both teams
• Triage antibody candidates for develop ability liabilities — deamidation, oxidation, aggregation hotspots — in collaboration with the characterization team.

• Apply structured problem-solving approaches to keep project work streams on track and deliverables at high quality
• Mentor graduate students and junior lab members in computational methods, antibody biology, and scientific communication
• Contribute to grant writing and support proposal development for new research directions

What we do here changes the world.

Once you join us you won't want to leave. It’s because we reward our team for the excellent service they provide. Our total rewards package includes the benefits you’d expect from a top healthcare organization (benefits, insurance, etc.), plus:

• 100% paid medical premiums for our full-time employees
• Generous time off (holidays, preventative leave day, both vacation and sick time – all of which equates to around 37-38 days per year)
• The longer you stay, the more vacation you’ll accrue!
• Build your future with our awesome retirement/pension plan!

• Free financial and legal counseling
• Free mental health counseling services
• Gym membership discounts and access to wellness programs
• Other employee discounts including entertainment, car rentals, cell phones, etc.
• Resources for child and elder care
• Plus many more!

A biomedical postdoc position provides an opportunity for early-career researchers to gain…