Postdoctoral Research Scholar 0-5 yrs Experience

Overview

This position is budgeted for $6,000.00 per month and is non-negotiable.

Recruit open to current SDSU Research Foundation employees only.

Established in 1943, the mission of the SDSU Research Foundation (SDSURF) is to support the research objectives of San Diego State University by helping faculty and staff find, obtain, and administer funding for their research and sponsored programs. SDSU achieved its strategic plan goal of becoming an R1, premier public research university in early 2025 furthering discoveries, interventions, and solutions that improve communities and change the world. SDSURF provides the full life cycle of grants services to faculty and staff to further their important work.

Our vision is to foster a culture of creativity and collaboration with integrity and respect for individuals that results in the delivery of superior service to support the university’s strategic aspirations.

Our core values

Service: We are a service organization that strives to provide superior support to the university community to achieve SDSU’s goals; we are committed to being professionally competent by setting high standards and working hard to achieve results; and we continually seeking to improve our skills and capabilities by valuing education and professional development.

Collaboration: We seek to actively engage with our stakeholders and employees to identify issues and design solutions, build strong relationships grounded in trust, openness, and inclusion and achieve the best results by taking pride in the accomplishments of our colleagues.

Innovation: We work towards inspired solutions to improve and adapt to emerging opportunities and challenges, creative ways to streamline and enhance our delivery of services through resourceful and proactive problem solving and strategic use of technology and reduction of obstacles.

Respect: We promote a culture where every individual is valued and treated with dignity, we honor open-mindedness toward different viewpoints and ideas and have a genuine appreciation for varied backgrounds, experiences, and ways of thinking.

Integrity: We are committed to act with the highest ethical standards, with honesty, integrity, and transparency, provide consistent and accurate information and value and respect all individuals.

FUNCTION OF THE UNIT

Tuberculosis (TB) kills 1.5 million annually, highest among infectious diseases, now having surpassed COVID19. The Laboratory for Pathogenesis of Clinical Drug Resistance and Persistence (LPCDRP) (http://tuberculosis.sdsu.edu/) studies the genetic and epigenetic basis of antibiotic resistance, persistence, and virulence towards identification of novel drug and vaccine targets to combat the global TB pandemic. LPCDRP is housed within the Biomedical Informatics Research Center (BMIRC) and is funded by grants from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious diseases. LPCDRP houses a BSL2 (with limited access to BSL3) for all wet-lab experiments and a dry-lab (houses its own high-performance computing infrastructure) for all in silico analyses. The laboratory collaborates with, and receives clinical samples from, a variety of hospitals in India, the Philippines, Sweden, Belgium, Belarus, Georgia, and South Africa. These sites serve as clinical and/or microbiological sites for our projects. New international collaborations are actively sought and initiated each year. The laboratory houses projects in various aspects of TB infection with the ultimate goal of translating basic scientific advances into new diagnostic, therapeutic and vaccine candidates, clinical decision support tools, and public health policy.

The laboratory houses projects on various aspects of TB infection: automated drug and vaccine target identification, role of microbiome in host-pathogen interaction, direct sequencing from the disease context, TB genomic and epigenetic (e.g. DNA methylation) analyses for identification of mechanisms of antibiotics resistance and persistence, de novo genome assembly and annotation, genome-scale Metabolic and Expression modeling (ME modeling), Phylogenomics of small variations and rearrangements (genomic structural variations), mutagenesis experiments for the confirmation of the role of mutations and methylation anomalies in phenotypic change, condition-specific culturing and phenotyping, high-fidelity long-read sequencing, high molecular weight DNA and RNA sequencing, low-input sequencing, animal model experiments (Zebrafish and mouse in collaboration with other laboratories), spatial studies of pulmonary TB, and more.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

In total, our laboratory is looking to fill a postdoctoral fellowship position, and four PhD positions. Postdoctoral positions are for one year (renewable for up to five years upon good performance and availability of funding). PhD positions are renewable for up to four years upon good performance.

Through this announcement, we are looking to fill a postdoctoral fellowship position. The successful candidates will join a multidisciplinary team ranging from bioinformaticians and data scientists to clinicians, microbiologists, epidemiologists, and diagnostic laboratory staff. Depending on the qualifications and preference of the successful candidates, the position could be housed entirely in our wet-lab, dry-lab, or have hybrid responsibilities.

Responsibilities

Research Project Management 10%

• Assist in the planning, coordination, and execution of multidisciplinary research projects.
• Develop project timelines, monitor milestones, and ensure timely completion of research objectives and deliverables.
• Coordinate research activities among investigators, collaborators, and students.
• Maintain project documentation, progress reports, and compliance records.

Research Design and Experimental Development 15%

• Design, optimize, and implement research protocols and experimental methodologies.
• Conduct highly specialized and advanced laboratory or field experiments using sophisticated instrumentation and analytical techniques.
• Develop and refine standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure experimental reproducibility and scientific rigor.
• Troubleshoot experimental challenges and recommend methodological improvements.

Data Collection and Analysis 15%

• Collect, organize, curate, and manage research data using standardized procedures.
• Ensure data quality, integrity, and compliance with institutional and regulatory requirements.
• Perform statistical, computational, and qualitative analyses of experimental data.
• Interpret research findings and generate reports to support scientific conclusions and project objectives.

Scientific Communication and Dissemination 20%

• Prepare manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
• Develop conference abstracts, posters, oral presentations, and technical reports.
• Summarize research findings for internal meetings, collaborators, funding agencies, and external stakeholders.
• Conduct comprehensive literature reviews to support ongoing research activities.

Student Mentoring and Teaching 5%

• Mentor undergraduate and graduate students in research methodologies, laboratory techniques, experimental design, and data analysis.
• Provide guidance in scientific writing, presentation skills, and professional development.
• Supervise student research projects and monitor progress toward academic and research goals.
• Foster a collaborative and inclusive research environment that promotes learning and scientific inquiry.

Training and Educational Support 10%

• Prepare laboratory manuals, training guides, lecture notes, instructional materials, and educational resources.
• Assist in teaching laboratory courses, workshops, seminars, and hands-on training sessions.
• Train personnel, students, and research assistants on laboratory procedures, equipment operation, and safety protocols.
• Evaluate trainee competency and provide constructive feedback to support skill development.

Grant Development and Research Funding 5%

• Assist in preparing competitive research grant proposals and funding applications.
• Conduct literature reviews to identify knowledge gaps and justify proposed research.
• Draft research objectives, experimental approaches, timelines, budgets, and supporting documentation.
• Coordinate proposal submissions and assist with progress reports required by funding agencies.

Laboratory Operations and Compliance 10%

• Maintain laboratory equipment and coordinate routine maintenance and calibration.
• Manage laboratory inventories, supplies, and procurement activities.
• Ensure compliance with institutional policies, safety regulations, ethical standards, and funding agency requirements.
• Maintain accurate laboratory records, documentation, and regulatory files.

Collaboration and Professional Development 5%

• Collaborate with principal investigators, faculty members, interdisciplinary research teams, and external collaborators.
• Participate in laboratory meetings, departmental seminars, and collaborative research initiatives.
• Stay current with emerging scientific literature, technologies, and best practices.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of research programs through innovation, knowledge sharing, and scientific collaboration.

Other Duties as Assigned 5%

Qualifications

Knowledge and Abilities

• Deep understanding of molecular biology, genetics, and biochemistry
• Proven track record of publications as first author for postdoctoral positions
• Experience in standard BSL2 laboratory protocols and safety procedures (not required for dry-lab positions)
• Proficiency in Linux command line usage and one or more scripting languages (R, Python, Perl) (not required for wet lab positions, but preferable)
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and complete projects efficiently
• Ability to “think outside the box” and design projects and experiments
• Ability to think critically and have strong problem-solving skills

Education & Experience

• Doctoral degree or equivalent in an appropriate field.

Preferred Qualifications & Special Skills

• Experience with mutagenesis, especially on tuberculosis
• Experience in culturing and DNA/RNA extraction from tuberculosis
• Experience with library preparation for WGS, especially Pacific Biosciences or Nanopore sequencing
• Experience with high throughput diagnostics using PCR or LAMPore.
• Experience with grant writing
• Experience with high-performance computing
• Experience in infectious disease or pathogen genomics research
• Experience in genome assembly, alignment, variant calling, annotation, and/or heterogeneity analysis
• Experience in Epigenetics, phylogenomics, or metabolic modeling
• Experience processing high-throughput sequencing data using popular software (e.g. VarScan2, GATK, BWA, samtools, minimap2, canu)

Additional Applicant Information

• Candidate must reside in California and live within a commutable distance from SDSU at time of hire.
• Job offer is contingent upon satisfactory clearance based on background check results (including a criminal record check).
• San Diego State University Research Foundation is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with California law and federal civil rights laws, SDSU Research Foundation provides equal opportunity in employment without unlawful discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin or any other categories protected by federal or state law.
• Employment decisions are based on an individual’s qualifications as they relate to the job under consideration. Our commitment to equal opportunity means ensuring that every employee has equal access to resources and support.
• SDSU Research Foundation complies with Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the California Equity in Higher Education Act, California’s Proposition 209 (Art. I, Section 31 of the California Constitution), and other applicable state and federal anti-discrimination laws including grant or contract terms and conditions related to funded program activities. Further the SDSU Research Foundation maintains a Nondiscrimination Policy that prohibits discriminatory preferential treatment, segregation based on race or any other protected status, and all forms of unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in all programs, policies, and practices.
• SDSU Research Foundation makes all employment decisions including, but not limited to, applicant screening, hiring, promotion, demotion, compensation, benefits, disciplinary actions, and terminations on the basis of merit.