Protein Bioinformatics - Postdoctoral Researcher

Entry Level | Full-time
Engineering | Livermore, CA | 09/24/2026
Reference #: REF
8901G
Job Code: PDS.
1 Post-Dr Research Staff 1
Organization: Engineering
Position Type: Post Doctoral
Security Clearance: None/Position does not require US citizenship (assignments longer than 179 days require a federal background investigation)
Drug Test: Required for external applicant(s) selected for this position (includes testing for use of marijuana)
Medical Exam: Not applicable

Join us and make YOUR mark on the World!

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has turned bold ideas into world-changing impact advancing science and technology to strengthen U.S. security and promote global stability.

Our mission spans four critical national security areas nuclear deterrence, threat preparedness, energy security, and multi-domain defense empowering teams to take on the toughest challenges of today and tomorrow. With a culture built on innovation and operational excellence, LLNL is a place where your expertise can make a real impact.

Wehave an opening for a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher to conduct research in computational structural biology and develop bioinformatic methods for predicting protein-protein interactions in host-pathogen systems using evolutionary and structural information.

Current structure prediction tools, such as RoseTTAFold3, Alpha

Fold3, and ESMFold2, excel at monomeric structure prediction and at predicting known protein complexes. However, these tools struggle to identify which proteins interact and which do not. Residue-residue coevolution can be leveraged to predict interactions within organisms, but these signals are challenging to extract for interactions between organisms. You will build and leverage large protein sequence datasets to enable accurate interaction prediction and apply these methods to identify novel biological systems.

You will be an integral member of an interdisciplinary, cross-institutional team working with computational biologists and experimental biologists. You will leverage existing computational tools and develop new approaches for predicting binary interactions, interaction specificity, and protein structure. You will regularly present your work and publish your research findings, including through occasional travel to collaborate with external partners and attend conferences. This position is in the Computational Engineering Division (CED), within the Engineering Directorate

Depending on your assignment, this position may offer a hybrid schedule, blending in-person and virtual presence. You may have the flexibility to work from home one or more days per week.

In this role, you will

• Conduct research, and contribute to designing, analyzing, and extending sequence and structure based bioinformatic tools to develop databases that will enable protein-protein interaction predictions.
• Interpret new/understudied biological systems through protein structure prediction.
• Contribute to the development of protein sequence and structure computational frameworks and analysis tools.
• Develop structure-based distillation datasets for team members to improve ML model development.
• Collaborate with external partners (Universities, Industry, other National Laboratories) to advance computational biology simulation efforts.
• Prepare complex and detailed progress reports, written analyses, and verbal briefings to support project needs and deadlines and to present research results to sponsors.
• Independently pursue the development of new and innovative research methods relevant to the needs of Laboratory programs and/or external funding agencies.
• Contribute to proposals and statements of work.
• Publish research results in peer-reviewed scientific or technical journals and…