Microscopy career scientist position in spatial profiling and tissue imaging
About the position
The Harvard Medical School Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology (LSP) seeks a PhD-level microscopist interested in a career scientist position within an interdisciplinary team of professionals seeking to revolutionize how cancers and other diseases are diagnosed and treated. The team focuses on the use of 2D and 3D highly-multiplexed imaging of cells, tissues, and tumors, conventional and spatial transcriptomics, and the use of software tools based on machine-learning. The position provides a unique opportunity to work with experts in human disease, cell and tissue biology, visual computing, and machine learning; details can be found at https://www.tissue-atlas.org/. Reporting to the Director of Microscopy and Computer Vision, this position is an outstanding alternative to a postdoc (or second postdoc) for an individual who thrives on scientific challenges and seeks to work as part of an interdisciplinary academic team.
The applicant must have a PhD in a natural science or biomedical engineering and research experience in cell, tissue or developmental biology, or related disciplines that involve extensive use of optical microscopes. Ideal candidates will have experience in both microscopy instrumentation and computational data analysis and familiarity with (or a readiness to learn) best practices in image acquisition and data processing. Experience with tissue biology, histology, or pathology in mouse models or human disease is a plus. Extensive formal and informal opportunities for career development as a research scientist or engineer are possible.
Successful candidates will join a team of a dozen PhD and MSc-level career scientists working to advance the state of the art in spatial profiling of tissues. The tissue imaging team at the LSP collaborates with over a dozen research groups from across the US and Europe and the candidate will have an opportunity to travel to and publish with these labs and also attend scientific meetings. The candidate will become proficient in high-plex tissue imaging, digital pathology, and machine-learning tools for image analysis and have exposure to spatial transcriptomics methods and imaging mass spectrometry. The team operates a number of high performance confocal, 3D sectioning, and high content scanning instruments.
This position is available with a flexwork option for applicants living in or planning to relocate to a location commuting distance to campus (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire). At least three days per week of on-site work at the HMS campus in Boston MA is required however.
About the Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology
The Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology (LSP) is a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary research and education program located in the center of Harvard Medical School (HMS). The LSP engages in a wide variety of research projects focused on cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, chronic pain, and infectious disease. Career bench scientists, software and instrumentation engineers, and data analysts play essential roles in these projects. The LSP has a very active software team that oversees the development and implementation of open-source tools for data integration and analysis, image management, machine learning, and visualization.
The LSP is a component of the Harvard Program in Therapeutic Science (HiTS - http://hits.harvard.edu), which aims to reinvent the fundamental science underlying the development of new medicines and their use in individual patients. LSP staff, faculty, administrators, and students represent a wide range of ages, races, interests, and backgrounds come together in pursuit of common goal of fundamentally improving human health. Harvard is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and applications from women and persons of color are strongly encouraged.
Former LSP members are now faculty members in US, Europe, and Asian universities, lead core facilities or interdisciplinary projects at leading academic research institutions, have started software and biotech companies using the lab’s technologies, or have assumed leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry.
Responsibilities
Application Process
Please submit a cover letter, a current CV and two or more references via the Bamboo HR portal (https://hitsedu.bamboohr.com/). Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. The cover letter must highlight your past contributions to projects that have featured optical microscopy as a central theme. Examples where you have provided technical consultation and experimental design to other scientists are highly encouraged. If you have developed open-source image analytical methods, you may include links to GitHub/GitLab as appropriate. Promising candidates will be contacted for a Zoom interview and (possibly remote) in-person meetings with lab members. The LSP currently operates a hybrid work model with scientific staff on-site 3-5 days per week depending on job function (subject to change based on Harvard, Federal and State pandemic policy).
Mandatory qualifications
Desired qualifications
Compensation and Benefits
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