Research Postdoctoral Fellow - Craniofacial Development and Gene Therapy

Seeking Breakthrough Makers

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) offers countless ways to change lives. Our diverse community of more than 20,000 Breakthrough Makers will inspire you to pursue passions, develop expertise, and drive innovation. At CHOP, your experience is valued; your voice is heard; and your contributions make a difference for patients and families. Join us as we build on our promise to advance pediatric care—and your career.

CHOP does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or any other legally protected categories in any employment, training, or vendor decisions or programs. CHOP recognizes the critical importance of a workforce rich in varied backgrounds and experiences and engages in ongoing efforts to achieve that through equally varied and non-discriminatory means.

Under the direction/guidance of a mentor (principal investigator), assumes responsibility for a specific, on-going research project. The experience will serve to extend, refine and enhance skills necessary for professional and career development, and will enable the individual to broaden his/her scientific background by acquiring new research capabilities. It is expected that this individual will conduct independent scholarly research, and will contribute directly to the overall research goals of the project and the research group.

This role will be expected to participate in project planning, recording and interpretation/evaluation of data, and communication of results. This position will also be expected to acquire technical, lab management, and manuscript/grant writing skills; and participate in seminars, lectures, poster sessions and presentations at national meetings. This role also may be required to supervise junior lab members, develop new methods and protocols for research, and assist with the development of other research projects in the lab.

The Center for Craniofacial Innovation at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute is seeking a highly motivated research fellow interested in craniofacial developmental biology and genetics, at the intersection of fundamental discovery and gene therapy. We are specifically interested in seeking a candidate with expertise in mouse models, human cell lines and computational biology. We have a pipeline of studying human subjects and animal models of craniofacial conditions, working with human embryonic stem cells and new disease models.

Experiments will involve leveraging direct human cell culture, human iPSC, mouse and zebrafish models to dissect the developmental genetic basis of craniofacial malformations and innovate new diagnosis and treatments.

The fellow will join a collaborative group of scientists who study the basic and translational biology of craniofacial biology, morphogenesis, cell specification and development. Additionally, the fellow will join and initiate studies to develop novel diagnosis and therapies. In this instance, the fellow's work will have a direct bearing on discovery of drugs and gene therapy approaches to mitigate malformation phenotypes and target delivery to disease-driving cells in craniofacial malformations and disease.

We integrate the approaches of stem cell and computational biology and use these to explore human tissue regeneration and disease. We apply the latest technology in genetics with routine use of multi-omics, CRISPR, iPSC, single cell RNAseq, cell transplants, FACS, live confocal labeling and imaging, transgenics, chemical screening, and many other experimental approaches. Our laboratories are fully integrated with the Center for Computational and Genomic Medicine which develops and implements state-of-the-art computational techniques and methods in bioinformatics: long read single cell/nuclei RNA sequencing, ChIP-X, Hi-C/3C chromosome conformation, and AI-assisted data harmonization.

Our Center is also intergrated with the Center for Gene and Cell Therapy, to leverage advances in base editing and vectors to change the molecular trajectory of craniofacial conditions. Our laboratory has dedicated human cell, organoid, mouse and zebrafish facilities outfitted with the latest imaging, injection and cell manipulation instruments. We will extrapolate human studies to vertebrate models, specifically with mice for their advantages in generating human disease models, and zebrafish for higher throughput gene expression and function studies.

Researchers work in open format laboratory space that foster interactions with other stellar researchers working in the Center, with ample opportunities to participate in scientific seminars and professional development.

A major focus of this position is the development of next-generation gene therapies for congenital craniofacial disorders. The successful candidate will leverage sophisticated genetic mouse models to study disease mechanisms and evaluate therapeutic strategies for conditions including…