Academic Research Scientist- School of Medicine, Pathology

Discover Your Career at Emory University: Emory University is a leading research university that fosters excellence and attracts world-class talent to innovate today and prepare leaders for the future. We welcome candidates who can contribute to the excellence of our academic community. Description:

The Sekaly Lab seeks a dynamic translational scientist with expertise in human immunology, immunogenomics, single-cell multi-omics, immune profiling, and assay development. The successful candidate will lead the design, optimization, and application of advanced experimental and computational workflows to uncover mechanisms of immune regulation, antiviral immunity, vaccine responses, cancer immunology, and disease pathogenesis. This role will integrate experimental immunology, single-cell multi-omics, functional assays, and computational/AI approaches to advance the lab’s systems biology and translational research programs.

The Academic Research Scientist functions as a highly skilled contributor/researcher and has significant authorship on publications and advanced knowledge and expertise of laboratory and experimental platforms necessary to advance basic and/or translational research programs.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Staff Scientists will have leadership responsibilities, and will oversee quality and training of other team members.
• Duties include designing, developing and conducting research experiments.
• Will have expert knowledge and skills specific to the related program and advanced knowledge of methods of analyzing data from experimental platforms.
• May assist in grant and other funding applications as necessary and appropriate, or with approval of the responsible faculty director, may have their own research projects and/or have full responsibilities for specific areas of a program.
• With the approval of the responsible Emory faculty director, the Academic Research Scientist may serve as the principal investigator on funded (grant) proposals.
• Performs other responsibilities as required.

ADDITIONAL JOB DETAILS:* Lead development and implementation of integrated single-cell workflows, including scRNA-seq, CITE-seq, BCR/TCR sequencing, and scATAC-seq.

• Develop and optimize sample-processing, cell-isolation, sorting, fixation, and library-preparation workflows for high-quality multi-omic profiling.
• Evaluate, implement, and adapt emerging single-cell, spatial transcriptomics, sequencing, and immune-profiling technologies.
• Drive innovation in experimental platform development through hands-on experimentation, optimization, troubleshooting, and strategic planning.
• Design and implement functional and mechanistic immune assays to validate findings from multi-omics studies.
• Develop perturbation strategies using CRISPR/Cas9, lentiviral approaches, RNA-based methods, or pharmacological modulation in collaboration with relevant specialists.
• Investigate immune-cell activation, differentiation, exhaustion, memory, antigen specificity, and therapeutic responses using high-dimensional approaches.
• Integrate single-cell transcriptomics, immune-receptor repertoires, phenotypic profiling, and functional assay data to identify mechanisms and biomarkers.
• Partner with computational scientists to analyze multi-modal datasets and develop reproducible bioinformatics and AI/ML-based analytical workflows.
• Work closely with academic, clinical, and industry collaborators to co-develop novel assays, reagents, technologies, and translational research programs.
• Lead studies involving human clinical specimens and relevant preclinical models of HIV, cancer, infectious disease, and vaccine responses.
• Mentor postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, research scientists, and junior laboratory personnel.
• Contribute to scientific strategy, contribute in writing NIH grants, writing collaborative proposals, manuscripts, presentations, and intellectual-property development.
• Help define scientific priorities and establish standardized, reproducible assay and data-generation protocols across projects.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:* PhD and two years of professional level experience in a technical or research lab OR master's degree and four years of professional level experience in a technical or research lab OR bachelor's degree and six years of professional level experience in a technical or research lab.

• Laboratory experience should be based on area of assignment.
• Internship experience or experience prior to attaining the qualifying degree is not considered eligible work experience for this job classification.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:* Proven expertise in single-cell genomics, immune profiling, flow cytometry/FACS, and functional immune assays.

• Demonstrated experience working with human clinical specimens, primary immune cells, and complex biological samples.
• Strong knowledge of immune-cell biology, host–pathogen interactions, vaccine responses, and mechanisms of immune regulation.
• Experience generating and interpreting high-dimensional single-cell and/or multi-omics datasets.
• Demonstrated ability to independently design, execute, troubleshoot, and lead complex research projects.
• Demonstrated leadership in collaborative research, mentorship, team coordination, and scientific communication.
• Working knowledge of bioinformatics and ability to effectively collaborate with computational scientists.
• Ability to translate computational discoveries into experimentally testable biological hypotheses.
• Experience with 10x Genomics scRNA-seq, immune-receptor sequencing, CITE-seq, scATAC-seq, or related technologies.
• Experience with BCR/TCR repertoire analysis and antigen-specific B-cell or T-cell profiling.
• Experience with spatial transcriptomics and epigenomic technologies.
• Experience with CRISPR/Cas9, lentiviral systems, cellular engineering, or functional perturbation approaches.
• Experience with stem cells, organoid, 3D culture, or advanced cellular models.
• Experience developing bioinformatics pipelines for single-cell and multi-omics datasets.
• Experience applying machine learning or AI approaches to biological and immunological datasets.
• Experience with translational research, clinical collaborations, or industry partnerships.
• Track record of publications, collaborative research, grant contributions, and/or technology development.

NOTE: Position tasks are generally required to be performed in-person at an Emory University location. Remote work from home day options may be granted at department discretion. Emory reserves the right to change remote work status with notice to employee. Additional Details: Emory is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by state or federal law. Emory University does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment, including recruitment, hiring, promotions, transfers, discipline, terminations, wage and salary administration, benefits, and training. Students, faculty, and staff are assured of participation in university programs and in the use of facilities without such discrimination. Emory University complies with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veteran's Readjustment Assistance Act, and applicable executive orders, federal and state regulations regarding nondiscrimination, equal opportunity, and affirmative action (for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities). Inquiries regarding this policy should be directed to the Emory University Department of Equity and Civil Rights Compliance, 201 Dowman Drive, Administration Building, Atlanta, GA 30322. Telephone: 404-727-9867 (V) | 404-712-2049 (TDD).

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