Post Doctorate Fellow, Identifying cardiac disease pathways using pooled CRISPR screens in iPSC

Role Summary

Postdoctoral Fellow to lead a project applying single-cell genomics and high-throughput pooled perturbation screens to identify novel therapeutic targets for heart failure. Work with internal teams and external partners to design, implement, and analyze pooled genetic screens in cardiac cells to assign phenotypes to genes and prioritize targets within biological pathways of interest. The project will involve viral vector design, in vitro stem cell modeling of cardiovascular disease, bulk- and single-cell sequencing, and analysis of transcriptomic and perturbation data.

Onsite at Carlsbad, CA.

• Optimize lentiviral vector and targeted library design and delivery to cardiac cells.
• Perform targeted genetic perturbation screens in immortalized and iPSC-derived cardiac cells.
• Design and execute in vitro studies to validate newly identified targets in relevant models.
• Analyze and interpret highly dimensional datasets to pinpoint actionable targets and pathways driving cardiomyocyte dysfunction in heart failure.
• Document experimental results and communicate clear, concise findings through regular internal presentations, writing manuscripts for scientific publications, and in external scientific conferences.
• Collaborate closely with computational biologists, geneticists, and cardiovascular physiologists to dissect disease-relevant gene networks and help identify novel therapeutic targets for heart failure.
• Demonstrate professionalism and uphold the company’s culture, core principles, and collaborative working norms.

• Required: Ph.D. in RNA biology, genetics, molecular biology, bioengineering, or a closely related field with 0-3 years.
• Required: Experience and/or familiarity with CRISPR-Cas9 genetic perturbations, pooled screening, RNA/DNA sequencing, and single-cell RNA-seq with supporting bioinformatics tools.
• Required: Cell culture experience including immortalized and iPSC-derived or primary cells.
• Required: In vivo rodent disease model experience or willingness to learn.
• Required: Familiarity with molecular techniques (e.g., plasmid design/cloning, RNA/DNA isolation, qPCR, NGS library construction).
• Required: Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to design experiments independently.
• Required: Ability to work effectively in a matrixed, multidisciplinary team environment.
• Required: Strong written and verbal communication skills for publication and presentation.
• Required: Ability or familiarity with tools to analyze large datasets (e.g., scRNA-seq, transcriptomics, pooled CRISPR screens with R/Python using Jupyter notebooks) is a plus.
• Required: Strong background in iPSC cardiomyocyte differentiation, culture optimization, phenotypic assays or cardiovascular physiology is a plus.
• Required: Onsite full-time at Carlsbad, CA.

• Ph.D. in a relevant field as listed above.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and independent experimental design.
• Ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary, matrixed team.
• Experience with large-scale genomic and transcriptomic data analysis (R/Python, Jupyter notebooks) is a plus.