Postdoctoral Fellow

Job Summary:

This position reports directly to Dr. Austin Gillen and is responsible for developing, executing, and analyzing data from research projects investigating how post-transcriptional regulation, RNA processing, and cellular heterogeneity shape cancer cell states in myeloid malignancies (e.g., acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic neoplasms). The position is an opportunity for a bright, creative, and enthusiastic individual to advance their career by performing impactful, cutting-edge biomedical research that integrates wet-lab experimentation with computational and bioinformatic analysis.

Key Responsibilities:

This position is expected to work independently under the guidance of the principal investigator. Projects will involve extensive development and use of single-cell genomic techniques, high-throughput profiling, flow cytometry, molecular biology, and computational analysis on patient-derived samples and cell line models of hematologic malignancy. Specific duties include:

• Design and execute single-cell genomic experiments (e.g., single-cell RNA sequencing and related single-cell/multi-omic assays) on patient-derived and model samples.

• Contribute to high-throughput screening and profiling efforts, including analysis of large patient cohorts and/or functional assays, to identify mechanisms of disease progression and treatment resistance.

• Perform bioinformatic analysis of single-cell and genomic datasets, including scripting and pipeline development in R and/or Python.

• Contribute to the development, testing, and maintenance of reproducible software tools and computational methods for single-cell and genomic data analysis, in collaboration with the lab’s methods-development efforts.

• Develop and apply flow cytometry, molecular biology, and cell biology assays to generate and validate experimental findings.

• Design and implement projects relating to the laboratory’s overall research program.

• Analyze, interpret, and fully document experimental results.

• Collaborate with computational and clinical colleagues across the Division of Hematology and Department of Medicine on shared datasets and cross-disciplinary projects.

• Prepare data and manuscripts for publication.

• Prepare grant proposals to obtain independent post-doctoral funding.

• Actively participate in and present data at group meetings, journal clubs, and conferences.

• Work in conjunction with the PI and other lab staff to achieve programmatic goals, including student and staff mentorship.

• To fulfill job requirements, candidates must receive training and adhere to institutional standards of best practice in laboratory safety, biosafety, data security, and other areas as determined by the institution and/or PI.

• Other duties as assigned.

Work Location:

Onsite - this role is expected to work onsite and is located on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado.

Why Join Us:

The Gillen Lab is based in the Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, led by Principal Investigator Dr. Austin Gillen. The lab runs an integrated bench-and-computational research program studying how RNA processing and cellular heterogeneity shape cancer cell states, with a particular focus on myeloid malignancies. Fellows are trained across the full research pipeline - experimental design, data generation, computational analysis, visualization, and manuscript/grant preparation - within a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment spanning hematology, oncology, and computational biology across CU Anschutz.

Why work for the University?

The University of Colorado offers a comprehensive benefits package. To see what benefits are available for Post-Doctoral Fellows, please visit:

• Payroll & Benefits Orientation for Post-Doctoral Fellows | University of Colorado (cu.edu)

• Comprehensive Benefits Guide for Post-Doctoral Fellows (cu.edu)

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

Applicants must meet minimum qualifications at the time of hire.

• A doctoral level degree (PhD, MD, MD/PhD) in molecular biology, genomics, immunology, or equivalent from an accredited institution.

• At least one first-author publication in an internationally recognized, peer-reviewed journal.

Conditions of Employment:

• Candidates must be able to work with human biospecimens and other potentially biohazardous research materials.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Graduate training in a biomedical laboratory setting studying molecular biology, genomics, immunology, hematology, or a related field.

• Experience with single-cell genomic techniques (e.g., single-cell RNA sequencing, single-cell multi-omic or spatial profiling).

• Experience with high-throughput screening approaches or analysis of large-scale genomic or clinical datasets.

• Proficiency in R and/or Python for bioinformatic analysis, including common single-cell analysis toolkits, and experience working in high-performance computing (HPC) environments.

• Experience with flow cytometry and standard molecular and cell biology techniques (e.g., cell culture, nucleic acid extraction, cloning).

• Experience processing, harmonizing, and quality-controlling single-cell datasets at production scale (e.g., building or maintaining an analysis pipeline across a multi-sample clinical cohort spanning hundreds of specimens) rather than single-experiment analyses alone.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to work independently and as a team member within a research environment.

• Ability to work efficiently and effectively with computer software, including common bioinformatic/statistical software and Microsoft Office.

• Skilled with the use of aseptic mammalian cell culture techniques.

• Skilled with common laboratory techniques and equipment, and/or computational and statistical analysis methods, consistent with PhD-level graduate training.

• Ability to commit to an independent scientific career in cancer biology, genomics, or a related field, with a proven high degree of independence and self-motivation to achieve these ends.