Research Associate in Medical Genetics

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

The UBC Department of Medical Genetics seeks to be an inspiring and productive community of scholars; an outstanding provider of knowledge, technical expertise, and compassionate care for our patients; contributors to the scientific advance of our discipline; and a credible and respected source of information and advice to society at large. While focusing on areas of genetic medicine that we deem to be particularly important, we view diversity of approach and techniques to be an essential strength of our Department.

We acknowledge that the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine and its distributed programs, which include four university academic campuses, are located on traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of Indigenous peoples around the province.

The Department of Medical Genetics at The University of British Columbia (UBC) invites applications for a full-time Research Associate (1.0 FTE) position in the Hanna Laboratory located in the Life Sciences Institute. We are seeking a talented and motivated candidate with a strong understanding of placental biology, developmental biology, epigenetic mechanisms and molecular biological techniques, accompanied by demonstrated bioinformatic skills. Experience culturing trophoblast stem cells would be an asset.

RESPONSIBILITIES

This project involves the study the role for epigenetics in regulating gene expression and lineage specification during placental development. This project requires the use sequencing approaches, including ChIP-seq, whole genome bisulfite-seq, RNA-seq and ATAC-seq, in transgenic mouse models and trophoblast stem cells to investigate epigenetic patterning and links to gene regulation. Single-nuclei transcriptomics and immunofluorescence will be used to study the consequences of epigenetic perturbations on cell identity and gene regulation within differentiating tissues. The position will require bioinformatics analyses of datasets and writing manuscripts to describe the biological insights gained from these studies.

QUALIFICATIONS

Successful applicants will have:

• PhD in molecular biology or related discipline with a proven track record in developmental epigenetics and placental biology.
• Expertise in both human and mouse placental biology
• An in depth understanding of epigenetic mechanisms
• Experience in mouse embryology, including collection of placental tissues across developmental stages.
• Experience working with trophoblast stem cells is desirable, including derivation, co-culture or organoid models.
• At least 4 years of experience in the generation of next-generation sequencing data, including optimization of techniques for low cell numbers and preparation of samples for single-cell transcriptomics.
• A proven track record of analyzing next generation sequencing data, including RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, bisulfite-seq and ATAC-seq data.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Strong academic publication record in the field of epigenetics.
• Track record of supervising and mentoring junior lab personnel
• Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own.
• Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.