Postdoctoral Fellow - MALDI-MS Imaging and Spatial Transcriptomics for Drug Discovery (Onsite)

USA - Massachusetts - Cambridge (320 Bent Street)

MSD

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Job Description

Be a part of the legacy: Postdoctoral Research Fellow Program

Our Research Laboratories’ Postdoctoral Research Fellow Program aims to be a best-in-industry program for industrial postdoctoral researchers, designed to provide you with an academic focus in a commercial environment. With the resources, reach, and expertise of a large pharmaceutical company, postdoctoral researchers will be positioned to excel in an institution committed to breakthrough innovation in research and discovery.

We are seeking a passionate experimental or hybrid scientist with expertise in mass spectrometry imaging for tissue profiling to join the Department of Data, A.I, and Genome Sciences (DAGS) at our company's Research Laboratories in Cambridge, MA. Our group utilizes innovative Spatial Omics approaches (i.e., CosMx, Xenium, Visium, MERSCOPE, Phenocycler Fusion, COMET, MALDI-MS) to impact all stages of the drug development pipeline from pre-clinical to clinical development. DAGS collaborates closely with the discovery therapeutic areas (i.e., oncology, immunology, neuroscience and cardiometabolic disease) and functional areas (i.e., Data Science & Scientific Informatics, Quantitative Bioscience, ChemBio, Analytical R&D) within the Discovery, Preclinical and Translational Medicine (DPTM) organization to leverage these leading edge technologies for novel target and biomarker identification and validation or to better understand therapeutic mechanisms of action for diseases with high unmet need. Successful candidates will be an active participant in the scientific dialogue of the group and will be able to work independently and proactively collaborate with colleagues.

The responsibilities of the candidate include but are not limited to:

  • Pioneering experimental capabilities to integrate mass spectrometry imaging with spatial transcriptomics workflows to enable deep molecular interrogation of tissue samples.

  • Designing, preparing and executing experiments utilizing multiple spatial transcriptomics platforms (i.e., MERFISH, Visium, Xenium, CosMx) and MALDI mass spectrometry imaging with intact human and preclinical tissues

  • Analyzing tissue sections from patient samples and pre-clinical models to better characterize cellular cross-talk, distribution in disease, and study biological mechanism in relation to efficacy.

  • Handling fresh frozen and FFPE tissue specimens, including sectioning, staining, imaging, and analysis

  • Troubleshooting and optimizing tissue processing, imaging and/or Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) workflows to ensure high level of quality and reliability of generated results

  • Performing analysis of mass spectrometry imaging, digital pathology, and spatial transcriptomics data using advanced software platforms and/or command line tools (e.g. R, Python)

Education Minimum Requirement: Ph.D. in in chemistry, biochemistry, biomedical engineering, molecular and cell biology, or related disciplines or will be completing PhD by May 2025.

Required skills and experiences:

  • Hands-on expertise in tissue mass spectrometry imaging, with a preference for MALDI-MS imaging

  • Familiarity with tissue handling and processing, including sectioning, staining, and imaging

  • Keen understanding of experimental design, underlying scientific principles, and the ability to rigorously analyze and document results

  • Being proactive and collaborating closely across multi-disciplinary groups including the therapeutic area groups, the various functions and groups within DAGS, Quantitative Biosciences, Data Science & Scientific Informatics, as well as external collaborators

  • Strong communication (oral and written) and collaboration, including an ability to effectively communicate experimental design, results and conclusions

Preferred Experience and Skills

  • Experience in spatial transcriptomics, in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, or other related histology techniques

  • Demonstrated experience in computational analysis and interpretation of mass spectrometry imaging and spatial transcriptomics datasets

  • Experience using Linux/Unix OS and high-performance compute (HPC) environments. Familiarity with coding in R and/or Python

  • Demonstrated expertise in Neuroscience, Oncology and/or Immunology disease areas

  • Publications in high impact journal

PostdoctoralOpportunities

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Employee Status:

Regular

Relocation:

Domestic

VISA Sponsorship:

Yes

Travel Requirements:

No Travel Required

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

NA

Job Posting End Date:

10/24/2024

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.

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Tags: Biochemistry Biology Chemistry Drug discovery Engineering Excel HPC Industrial Linux Pharma PhD Python R R&D Research

Perks/benefits: Career development Flex hours Relocation support Transparency

Regions: Remote/Anywhere North America
Country: United States

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