Position Summary

We are seeking a talented and motivated Postdoctoral Fellow within the multidisciplinary research team headed by Dr. Ajay Goel, Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics and Associate Director of Basic Sciences, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer. Our research group comprises of basic biologists, gastroenterologists, surgeons, medical oncologists and bioinformaticians, undertaking a number of collaborative projects involving large international consortia.

Our research is focused on translational research as it relates to genomic and epigenomic characterization of various gastrointestinal cancers (GI) including colorectal, pancreatic and gastric cancers, and some of the key research topics include: 1) Development of circulating DNA/RNA-based liquid biopsy biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and predictive response to various therapies. 2) Study the epigenetic basis of GI cancers (e.g. aberrant DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs. 3) The genetic basis of early-onset and familial/hereditary colorectal cancers. 4) The role of tumor microenvironment, stem cells, immune regulation and identification of novel targeted therapies. 5) The role of extracellular vesicles/exosomes as in cancer pathogenesis and their role as disease biomarkers. Our group performs cutting-edge research in GI oncology, is very productive and publishes in high-impact journals such as Gastroenterology, Cancer Cell, PNAS, JNCI, Clinical Cancer Research, Nature Communications, Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Annals of Surgery etc.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Exploration of cell-free DNA-based, liquid biopsy biomarkers for the early-detection of gastrointestinal cancers (including colorectal, pancreatic, gastric, liver and esophageal).
• Establish innovative methodologies involving non-coding RNAs-based biomarkers for the earlier diagnosis, prognosis and predictive responses to chemotherapy in gastrointestinal neoplasia.
• Understanding the genetic basis of early-onset and familial/hereditary colorectal cancers
• Molecular mechanisms of cancer pathogenesis, the role of stem cells in the context of chemo resistance chemo-sensitization in cancer cells
• Gut microbiome and its influence in gastrointestinal cancers

The position is largely computational and biostatistical but involves substantial collaboration with wet-lab researchers providing data and is focused on fundamental biology. This interdisciplinary position offers opportunities to address important questions in computational biology and cancer genomics with first access to large novel data sets from various genomic/epigenomic platforms. We have a strong preference for bioinformaticians/biostatistician/computational biologists with a deep appreciation of biological phenomena or, alternatively, experimentalists with a solid background in bioinformatics/computational biology analysis of transcriptomic and genomic data with regard to detection of differentially expressed genes, noncoding RNAs, DNA methylation and differential processing profiles.

Basic education, experience and skills required for consideration:

• PhD in bioinformatics, computer science, data science, mathematics, statistics, physics or equivalent
• Hands-on and documented experience in analyzing RNA-Seq data, small RNA-Seq data, Methylation sequencing, WES, 16S RNA seq etc.
• Ability to do multi-omic analysis using a combination of various sequencing datasets

Additional Information:

• For more information about the groundbreaking research taking place in the Ajay Goel, Ph.D lab, please visit www.cityofhope.org/mdet .
• To protect the health of patients and staff and to comply with new State of California mandates, City of Hope staff are required to show proof of full vaccination by September 30, 2021. Compliance is a condition of employment.

City of Hope is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with disability.

#PD

• Posting Date: Dec 17, 2021
• Job Field: Research
• Employee Status: Regular
• Shift: Day Job