STAFF SCIENTIST - Balch Lab

ABOUT US:

Scripps Research is a nonprofit biomedical institute ranked as one of the most influential in the world for its impact on innovation. We are celebrating our 100-year legacy. This significant milestone marks a century of seminal discoveries in immunology, infectious diseases (such as COVID-19, flu, HIV), neuroscience, heart disease, cancer, and more. Located in La Jolla, California, the institute houses six research departments, multiple Nobel laureates, a top-ranked graduate school and a leading postdoctoral training program.  We work hand-in-hand with researchers of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and Calibr to merge foundational studies in biology, chemistry and computer science with translational science to produce pioneering drugs and advances in digital and precision medicine. Together, we cultivate new scientific leaders and expand the frontiers of knowledge to deliver medical breakthroughs impacting human health around the globe. If you have a passion for making a difference, this could be your opportunity to join our transformative team.

Celebrating a Century:  https://100.scripps.edu/

POSITION TITLE:  Staff Scientist

POSITION SUMMARY:

The spatial genomics-proteomics oriented cell/computational biology laboratory of Dr. William E. Balch in the Departments of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Scripps Research has an opening for a candidate with an interest in understanding and treating the underlying basis of mono- and polygenic diseases impacting the protein fold in response to genetic variation in the human population. The work is at the interface of combining human physiology with machine learning modeling approaches, linking bench to bedside to the discovery of therapeutics to treat human disease. Successful candidates will contribute to the development and application of experimental/computational approaches to assess the impact of genetic diversity found in different disease causing variants in individuals that can be interrogated by machine learning approaches to the population as a whole.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITES:

 

• Contribute to development of novel high-throughput assays to assess impact of genetic diversity on the genotype to phenotype transformation using different gene targets.
• Contribute to validation of genotype to phenotype analyses using machine learning approaches
• Cell culture: maintaining cell lines by passaging, splitting and cryopreserving cells; monitoring cell health and viability through microscopy; treating cells with experimental compounds
• Flow Cytometery: isolating specific cell populations and development of plate based FACS assays for small molecule screening
• Western blotting, transfections, qPCR, and microscopy
• Designing research questions and experimental protocols 
• Collaborating with other researchers to discuss findings, develop new projects and writing manuscripts.

REQUIREMENTS: 

• Ph.D. in a relevant scientific discipline. A minimum of 2 years postdoctoral experience.

• Experimentally, skillsets of interest include expertise in tissue culture, biochemical tools (SDS-PAGE, immunoblotting, ELISA, protein assay), and a good working knowledge of molecular techniques including generation of mutant plasmids, transfection with plasmids/siRNA for transient protein expression in cell-based reporter systems as well as use of CRISPR and transcriptomics/proteomics technologies.

• Knowledge of high throughput/high content assay formats (96/384 well) will be considered an important  contribution to project implementation.

• Computationally, knowledge of and appreciation of value of large datasets mined from both experimental and large open access databases to train machine learning approaches that can link our bench efforts to the clinical population harboring rare disease would be an important skillset.

​PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

This position works in a laboratory environment. Further details of the physical requirements of established essential functions for this position will be addressed/discussed during the interview process.

 LOCATION: La Jolla, California 

 COMPENSATIO