Postdoctoral Associate, Neal Laboratory

About the Role

The Neal Laboratory at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard seeks an independent, creative Postdoctoral Associate to join Project Encore. This initiative focuses on discovering how genetic variants drive rare diseases and translating these insights into potential treatments. The role involves developing and applying pooled optical screening approaches, investigating compound-variant interactions, and building an independent mechanistic research program.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop screening technologies, designing and optimizing pooled optical screens to connect disease-associated variants with protein localization and cellular phenotypes.
• Refine multiplexed staining, imaging, and in situ sequencing workflows.
• Pursue biological questions, developing promising variant phenotypes or compound responses into mechanistic projects.
• Test hypotheses in disease-relevant cell models, including iPSC-derived or primary human cells.
• Lead compound screening and validation, conducting primary screens and secondary dose-response experiments.
• Integrate experiments and analysis by working with computational colleagues to interpret imaging data, prioritize findings, and design follow-up experiments.
• Communicate and share discoveries, leading manuscript preparation, presenting findings, contributing openly accessible datasets and methods, and mentoring junior researchers.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Ph.D. in molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, functional genomics, bioengineering, chemical biology, systems biology, or a related field.
• Strong hands-on experience in mammalian cell culture, molecular biology, and fluorescence microscopy.
• Demonstrated ability to design, troubleshoot, and interpret experiments and advance a research project independently, evidenced by first-author publications or preprints.
• Clear written and verbal communication, strong organizational skills, and a collaborative approach to research.

Preferred Experience

Expertise in all areas is not expected, but candidates with experience in more than one of these areas will be prioritized:

• Mechanistic cell biology, human genetics, or research on Mendelian or rare diseases.
• Genetic perturbation screens, barcoded library construction, lentiviral transduction, or cell line engineering.
• Automated or high-content microscopy, compound screening, multiplexed immunostaining, or in situ sequencing and related optical profiling methods.
• Disease-relevant cell models, including human iPSCs, differentiated lineages, or primary cells.
• Quantitative image analysis or scientific programming, including tools such as CellProfiler, Fiji, Python, or R.

Mentorship and Career Development

• Emphasis on scientific independence, collaborative research, and career development.
• Mentorship and research training to support future leadership roles in academia or industry.
• Support for applying for external fellowships.

Position Details

• Start Date: Flexible; as early as possible
• Location: On-site, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA
• Pay Range: $70,000.00/yr - $92,666.67/yr

How To Apply

• Submit a CV, contact information for three references, and a brief cover letter.
• In your cover letter, describe your research interests and relevant experience, and briefly sketch one or two questions you would be excited to pursue in our lab.
• Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.