How to Apply

A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

Job Summary

The recently launched Parolia Laboratory at the Rogel Cancer Center is looking for an energetic, highly motivated individual to join our cancer biology and therapeutic team as a post-doctoral fellow. Candidates who enjoy a fast-paced lab environment focused on basic science and translational chromatin/epigenetic cancer research are encouraged to apply.

This position is ideal for a recent (or soon to be) PhD graduate who is interested in strengthening their experimental, analytical, and publishing skills before transitioning to independence within academia or bio-pharma industry. Transferring these skills to future scientists is central to the Parolia Lab?s mission (see below for details). The candidate will work as part of a small research team (comprising 2 to 3 individuals) to functionally interrogate epigenetic and chromatin regulatory proteins that activate key cancer-fueling pathways in hormone-driven (i.e., prostate and breast) cancers. They will also assess druggability of these genes using novel inhibitory/degrader drugs in preclinical models.

The individual should be familiar with routine molecular biology techniques and have an educational background in biomedical sciences or related subjects. The candidate will work under direct supervision of the Principal Investigator Dr. Abhijit Parolia?an Assistant Professor in Pathology & Urology in the Michigan medical school. The candidate will be provided thorough training in all tasks required as part of the job and will be involved in collaborative and intellectually engaging translational research.

Mission Statement

Michigan Medicine improves the health of patients, populations and communities through excellence in education, patient care, community service, research and technology development, and through leadership activities in Michigan, nationally and internationally. Our mission is guided by our Strategic Principles and has three critical components; patient care, education and research that together enhance our contribution to society.

Why Join Michigan Medicine?

Michigan Medicine is one of the largest health care complexes in the world and has been the site of many groundbreaking medical and technological advancements since the opening of the U-M Medical School in 1850. Michigan Medicine is comprised of over 30,000 employees and our vision is to attract, inspire, and develop outstanding people in medicine, sciences, and healthcare to become one of the world's most distinguished academic health systems. In some way, great or small, every person here helps to advance this world-class institution. Work at Michigan Medicine and become a victor for the greater good.

What Benefits can you Look Forward to?

Excellent medical, dental and vision coverage effective on your very first day
2:1 Match on retirement savings

Responsibilities*

2D monolayer cell culture maintenance: Culture adherent and suspension cells, plate cells for experiments, generate cryo-frozen stocks and maintain detailed record of the cell line bank.
Generation and maintenance of 3D organoids: Virally-engineer normal and cancerous prostate organoids from mouse and human donors to interrogate the functional role of chromatin and epigenetic driver oncogenes in transformation and metastatic progression.
In vitro characterization of drug lead compounds in cancer cell lines: Calculate of IC50, perform proliferation assays etc.
Functional assays: Perform protein and RNA extraction from cells and tumor tissue, western blot, co-immunoprecipitation, qPCR, ELISA assay, gDNA extraction, T7 endonuclease assay, bacterial transformation and plasmid propagation, DNA cloning and point mutagenesis.
Generation of CRISPR-Cas9-engineered models: Engineer cancer cells using the CRISPR-Cas9 technique to either knock-out or knock-in genes-of-interest and generate monoclonal lines. Perform phenotypic characterization of successfully engineered clones and employ them in high-throughput CRISPR screens.
Maintaining mouse colonies: this work will involve restraining SCID, FVB, and NSG mice, ear tagging, tumor measuring, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, and intra-cardiac injections of cells to generate tumor models, bioluminescence Imaging, and animal necropsy.
Other wet-lab techniques or assays maybe involved depending on how the project progresses.

Required Qualifications*

PhD (or equivalent) in Biomedical Sciences or related subjects.

Modes of Work

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Background Screening

Michigan Medicine conducts background screening and pre-employment drug testing on job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent job offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background screenings. Background screenings are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Report Act. Pre-employment drug testing applies to all selected candidates, including new or additional faculty and staff appointments, as well as transfers from other U-M campuses.

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.

U-M EEO/AA Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.