Postdoctoral Fellow - Wellington Laboratory

Specialization: Biostatistics, Neurology

Primary Supervision: Dr. Cheryl Wellington

Institution: The University of British Columbia

Location: Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, UBC

Contact: [email protected]

The Wellington Laboratory is a large and diverse group that conducts both clinical and preclinical research in the areas of traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. We are seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow to join the Wellington Laboratory’s clinical fluid biomarker group. The clinical fluid biomarker group uses state of the art technologies to detect a wide variety of protein biomarkers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid. These protein biomarkers help to reflect the complicated dynamics of the brain, thereby enabling their roles as research tools to assist in screening, diagnosis, prognosis, clinical trial design and interpretation. We work collaboratively with many clinicians and clinician scientists at the local, national and international levels, studying various aspects of neurological health and disease, including: neurotrauma, acquired brain injury, neurocritical care, neurodegeneration and healthy aging.

Fluid biomarkers can provide a detailed picture of neurological health and disease using relatively low-cost, accessible, objective, and scalable tools. There has been a rapid expanse of research into candidate blood-based biomarkers that show utility for the diagnosis and prognosis of neurological conditions. This position will focus on the statistical analysis for multiple projects involving large scale databases from various cohorts, including but not limited to traumatic or hypoxic brain injury, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, Multiple Sclerosis and healthy aging. The postdoctoral fellow will oversee their own individual project, to be developed in collaboration between the supervisor and a successful candidate. They will also provide guidance to lab members for other projects.

• Lead project design, including developing scope and writing statistical analysis sections for grant applications
• Coordinate and communicate project goals with lab members and external collaborators
• Conduct experiments analyzing biospecimens
• Apply advanced statistical approaches to large-scale data, including combining proteomic/biomarker data with large clinical databases from cohorts of up to 5,000+ participants
• Advise and supervise graduate and undergraduate students regarding statistical approaches
• Prepare presentations and publications, including figure production, writing and editing

• Recent completion of a PhD
• 5+ years of research experience in biostatistics, data science, bioinformatics, epidemiology, clinical laboratory medicine, or related fields
• Strong proficiency in statistical analysis, with experience with GraphPad Prism, RStudio, and SPSS

• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Experience supervising projects and team members
• Background knowledge of immunoassay technology and troubleshooting
• Experience working with biological specimens
• Experience with artificial intelligence and machine learning analytical methods

Submit application package as a single document to: [email protected]

• Curriculum Vitae (including links to 3 most recent publications)
• Academic transcripts
• 1 page cover letter

The expected stipend for this position is $50,000 to $60,000 per year. If the candidate does not have CIHR or similar funding they will be expected to be proactive in applying for awards.

Wellington Laboratory

The University of British Columbia

Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Program Eligibility

Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.