Job Abstract

The Lukens Lab (www.Lukenslab.com) in the Department of Neuroscience and the Center of Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG) at the University of Virginia is seeking to hire a motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to investigate how the innate immune system and cell death pathways contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. The Lukens Lab is particularly interested in interrogating the roles played by inflammasomes, immune-based DNA damage sensors, ITAM/ITIM receptors, and microbiota in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease.

Postdoctoral Research Associates will manage their own projects, interact with other lab members and collaborators, present their work at lab meetings and conferences, and contribute to grant applications and manuscripts for publication. Candidates will be expected to learn new techniques as a part of their training requirement. This position also includes opportunities to help mentor and teach students.

The position is a 12-month appointment with the possibility of renewal contingent upon satisfactory performance and the availability of funding.

Postdoctoral employment is temporary and is normally limited to an individual who has been awarded a Ph.D. or equivalent doctorate within the previous five years and who will be involved in full-time research or scholarship at the University. Employment as a Postdoctoral Research Associate is viewed as training and is preparatory for a full-time academic or research career, is supervised by a senior scholar, and allows the appointee to publish the results of his/her research or scholarship during the training period.

For questions regarding this position, please contact Dr. John Lukens at jrl7n@virginia.edu.

The University of Virginia is located in picturesque and historical Charlottesville, with outstanding schools, affordable housing, is less than two hours from Washington, DC, and only an hour away from Richmond, VA.

Qualified candidates must have:

• Doctoral degree in immunology, neuroscience, or a related field by the start date of the appointment

• First author publication(s)

• Experience in the independent conduct of laboratory experiments including experimental design, data display in figures, data analysis including standard statistical analyses, and data management

• Interest and confidence in developing new techniques for hypothesis testing

• High level of motivation and technical capacity to drive a research project

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail

• Excellent communication skills, demonstrated by a strong publication record, consistent with the candidate's career stage, and presentations at conferences

• Ability to work with others as part of a team, including both teaching and learning from others

Preferred Qualifications:

• Strong background in neurodegenerative disease research, neurobiology, or immunology

• Experience with mouse models of neurodegenerative disease

• Experience with one or more of these methods: confocal microscopy, cell or tissue culture, molecular biology, RNA-sequencing and bioinformatics, behavior studies, and flow cytometry

• Demonstrated creativity and flexibility in experimental design or new methods

The position will remain open until filled. This is an exempt-level, benefitted position.

For more information on the benefits at UVA, visit hr.virginia.edu/benefits. This position is a restricted position and is dependent upon project need, availability of funding, and performance. This position is located in Charlottesville, VA. 

The University will perform background checks on all new hires prior to employment.  A completed pre-employment health screen is required for this position.

To Apply:

Please apply through the UVA job board, and search for R0062257. Internal applicants must apply through their UVA Workday profile by searchinFind Jobs'. Complete an application online with the following documents:

• Cover letter

• Curriculum vitae (CV)

Upload all materials into the resume submission field, multiple documents can be submitted into this one field. Alternatively, merge all documents into one PDF for submission. Applications that do not contain all required documents will not receive full consideration.

References will be completed via UVA’s standardized process Skill Survey. A total of five references will be requested via SkillSurvey during the final phase of the interview process.

For questions about the application process, please contact Jon Freeman, Recruiter, at jf2sw@virginia.edu.

For more information about UVA and the Charlottesville community please see http://www.virginia.edu/life/charlottesville and https://embarkcva.com/.

The University of Virginia, including the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physician’s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff.  We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person's perspectives and lived experiences.  We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, and family medical or genetic information.