Post-Doctoral Fellow - School of Medicine​/Neurology

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Summary:

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine is a premier academic medical center located in the heart of Richmond. Accounting for almost half of VCU’s sponsored research, the School of Medicine is internationally recognized for patient care and education. All full‑time university staff are eligible for our generous benefits package that includes choices for health, vision, and dental coverage, life‑insurance, short and long‑term disability coverage, retirement planning, tax‑deferred annuity and cash match programs, flexible spending accounts, tuition benefits, significant paid‑time off, 12 paid holidays, and more.

School Of Medicine MBU

Neurology

The Department of Neurology has a talented, robust team of faculty and staff members spanning nine divisions includes representatives from every neurology subspecialty in adult and child neurology, plus award‑winning educators, clinical and translational neuroscientists and master clinicians.

The Center for Inherited Myology Research is a multi‑disciplinary translational research group focused on understanding and developing genetic therapies for muscular dystrophy. The Johnson and Carrell labs are specifically interested in the genetics of myotonic dystrophy and gene therapy for limb girdle muscular dystrophy.

The post‑doctoral fellow will perform mechanistic laboratory research using in vitro and in vivo models of muscular dystrophy. The scientist will be expected to generate the resources, plan, execute, analyze, and troubleshoot experiments aimed to address hypotheses with standard laboratory techniques used in researching genetic disorders. These techniques include genetic model development, molecular cloning, standard measurements of DNA, RNA, and protein, cell culture, and working with mouse models (behavioral assays).

The scientist will also be expected to work within a team structure of the Center for Inherited Myology research in the Johnson and Carrell labs. This will involve communication with the faculty, technicians, and other trainee scientists about their work, and involve teaching or overseeing laboratory staff. They will be asked to present their work in internal meetings and be given the opportunity to present their work at conferences once sufficiently completed.

• Maintain, characterize, and genetically engineer patient‑derived cells
• Develop and validate novel assays to quantify disease severity
• Establish cell culture SOPs
• Provide technical support for ongoing mouse studies (behavioral assays, tissue processing and analysis)
• Upkeep reliable notebook of experiments, approach, and data analysis.

• Work with lab technicians and graduate students in the lab
• Attend and contribute in lab meetings and/or journal clubs

• Present work at regular internal lab meetings
• Submit abstracts and present work at national and international meetings
• Submit or help to write, edit, or contribute to grant proposals.

• PhD in genetics, molecular biology, or similar area
• Experience (2 – 3 years) with cellular modeling including: immortalized and primary culturing, genetic disease modeling, flow cytometry, lentiviral applications, genetic/drug screens, CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis
• Experience (2 – 3 years) with cell and tissue microscopy (IF, IHC)
• Interest in basic and translational work performed in a team environment
• Ability to apply basic laboratory techniques to new applications (western blot, PCR, RNA analysis)
• Independent and creative problem‑solving skills
• Demonstrated ability to work in and foster an environment of respect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from various backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a postdoctoral fellow at VCU

• Demonstrated productivity through publications and grant applications
• Experience (2 – 3 years) with mouse handling (husbandry, basic behavioral assays) and tissue harvesting

Salary Range: $62,652 - $67,000

Benefits: All VCU employee types are eligible for a wide array of benefits to support you during your employment sult the benefits website for information on benefits eligibility according to employee type.

FLSA Exemption Status: Exempt

Hours per Week: 40

ORP Eligible: Yes

Flexible Work Arrangement: Hybrid

Contact Information:
Contact Name: Eric Hunsley
Contact Email: eric.hunsley