Job Description

The Cruchaga lab (https://cruchagalab.wustl.edu/) at Washington University School of Medicine is has a fully funded Postdoctoral position to study Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disease proteomics signatures.

The Cruchaga lab generates and analyzes high-throughput multi-omic data to study neurodegeneration and diseases of the central nervous system with emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other dementias. The ultimate goal of the lab is to understand the biology of these diseases, to define novel biomarkers, and to identify novel therapeutical targets.

We have pioneered in the integration of genetics with omic data to identify proteomic signatures and develop novel predictive models for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson, and Dystonia as well as to identify novel proteins and pathways implicated on disease pathogenesis.

We are currently analyzing brain, CSF and blood, multi-omic data (transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics), from a large collection of well-characterized samples to identify novel biomarkers and causal and druggable targets.

We are seeking motivated postdocs with strong analytical skills to join our effort and generate novel insights of neurodegeneration with this unique dataset, while working in a highly dynamic multidisciplinary and collaborative environment. The new postdoctoral fellow will join a large team, currently twenty members, which is led by three faculty members and three senior scientists.

Dr. Cruchaga’s lab is well funded with several grants from the National Institute of Ageing, the CZI and ongoing collaboration with the pharma industry. Our current research projects include the analysis of:

• Plasma, CSF and Brain Proteomic analysis  
• Biomarker identification through the use of machine learning and AI approaches
• Integration of proteomics with genetic data via MR, coloc and FUSION to identify causal and druggable targets

Requirements

·       The successful applicant will hold, or shortly expects to obtain, a PhD qualification in Genetics, Bioinformatics, Computer science, Data science, Statistical Genomics or a related discipline involving the interrogation of ‘omics’ datasets.

·       A hands-on experience with large-scale human omics (preferably related to neurodegeneration) studies is expected.

·       He/she would have solid skills in at least one programming language (R, python or perl) and experience working in Linux and/or high-performance cluster environments.

·       A strong ability to perform analytical reasoning to extract biological insights from data-driven approaches will be critical. In addition, familiarity to interrogate publicly available resources

·       .

Job Location

This position will be located at Dr. Cruchaga’s lab in the NeuroGenomics and Informatics Center (Department of Psychiatry) at Washington University.

Benefits

This position is eligible for full-time benefits. Please click the following link to view a summary of benefits: https://hr.wustl.edu/benefits/.

EOE Statement

The Washington University School of Medicine is renowned for its research cohorts of neurodegenerative disorders, which include clinical, neuroimaging, and fluid biomarker phenotypes. Washington University is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status.

Application

We offer competitive salaries and benefits, please refer to the Human Resources website (http://hr.wustl.edu), and Information on being a postdoc at Washington University in St. Louis can be found at http://postdoc.wustl.edu/prospective-postdocs.

• Interested candidates should send a cover letter and a copy of the CV to Pooja Arshanapally (apooja@wustl.edu).