Staff Scientist (Metabolism and Mass Spectrometry), Informatics Core, Division of Preclinical Innovation

Description

NCATS, a major research component of NIH, seeks applications from outstanding candidates to fill a staff scientist (metabolism and mass spectrometry) position. The opening is in the Informatics (IFX) Core of the center’s Division of Preclinical Innovation (DPI) in Rockville, Maryland.

The IFX Core’s mission is to discover putative biomarkers and mechanisms of action related to drug response or other exposures and disease development by promoting and applying metabolomics and multi-omic integration. This mission is achieved through our team science culture and collaborations that span the DPI, extramural NCATS programs, other federal institutions, industry and biotechnology, and national and international academic institutions.

The laboratory’s efforts and activities include:

Developing and implementing reproducible protocols that produce metabolomic profiles at scale.
Developing and implementing end-to-end informatics solutions (study design → data interpretation).
Advancing drug discovery and drug development efforts.
Training, educating and mentoring trainees and staff in metabolomics and multi-omics

Although these efforts and activities are synergistic, the selected candidate will lead efforts to expand our analytical skills while contributing to and leveraging our computational capacity. While the candidate will take on collaborative projects, they also will be expected to pursue original research.

Core Responsibilities

The successful candidate will:

Develop and implement analytical protocols to measure metabolites and lipids in various biospecimens, ranging from cells and organoids to human biofluids and tissue.
Ensure that protocols are adapted at scale, enabling the measurement of hundreds to thousands of samples per experiment.
Leverage automation technologies to integrate metabolism evaluation, directly through the metabolome and lipidome, into the drug discovery and development process.
Develop new analytical and related informatics approaches when standard methods are insufficient.
Work closely with the laboratory’s leadership, the IFX Core and NCATS scientists, as well as our academic, government and other extramural collaborators.
Contribute to the laboratory’s strategic vision.
Train and mentor trainees and staff. This includes:
- Developing and adhering to a process for prioritizing projects.
- Tracking experiments (including their data quality) and results over time.
Attempt to seek NCATS, NIH or external partnerships to augment the laboratory’s translational research efforts. This includes:
- Formalizing existing analytical and associated informatics protocols through such efforts as the Assay Guidance Manual for broader community awareness and possible adoption.
- Working closely with biologists, chemists and informaticians on study design.
- Evaluating data quality and reproducibility.
- Analyzing and interpreting data.
- Integrating multi-omic data.
Create and maintain detailed documentation on all developed protocols. Act as the owner/point of contact for these protocols and, when appropriate, the equipment used to develop these protocols. In addition to ensuring reproducibility, this documentation will serve as a basis for training and mentoring trainees and staff.
Attend and actively participate in NCATS, NIH and/or extramural committee meetings to obtain feedback, ensure alignment with the DPI mission and secure collaborative opportunities.
Author and co-author manuscripts, publishing results in high-impact, peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Present research results at internal and external scientific meetings.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate should have a doctoral degree (M.D., Ph.D. or equivalent) in biochemistry, analytical chemistry, or other relevant field and be a recognized expert in the field.

Applicants must have demonstrated experience in:

Generating large-scale, high-quality, untargeted, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)–based metabolomic data. This includes experience with automated liquid handlers.
Analyzing, processing, filtering and deconvoluting mass spectrometry data.
Assessing and assuring quality of mass spectrometry data (LC-MS, MS2, MSn).
Analyzing and functionally interpreting multi-omics data, applying basic statistical methods, such as PCA, univariate/multivariate analyses and pathway enrichment.
Presenting their scientific findings at conferences and professional venues.
Working with state-of-the art technologies and various instrument vendors (e.g., Agilent, Waters, Sciex), with a focus on LC-MS methods and automated liquid handling systems for high-throughput sample preparation.

The selected applicant will:

Have strong organizational and recordkeeping skills.
Work effectively in a collaborative, team science environment.
Capably and simultaneously manage multiple research projects.
Effectively manage and oversee staff/trainees and resources.
Have excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills.
Possess excellent analytical, organizational and time management skills (using such platforms as Signals, Jira, or similar).
Demonstrate the desire to seek out and master impactful translational research projects.
Strive to implement novel technologies and develop new ones.

Salary/Benefits

Salary will be based on qualifications, experience and accomplishments. A full civil service benefits package is available. It includes retirement; health, life and long-term care insurance; and participation in a Thrift Savings Plan (401[k] equivalent).

How to Apply

Please submit a cover letter that includes a research summary (one to two pages) and describes your career goals and interest in the position, a current curriculum vitae with a complete bibliography, and contact information for at least three references to Ewy A. Mathé, Ph.D.

Application reviews will begin promptly and continue until the position is filled.

Additional Information

All information provided by candidates will remain confidential and will not be released outside NCATS’ search process without a signed release from candidates. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and NIH are Equal Opportunity Employers.

Employment is subject to the successful completion of the preappointment process (e.g., background investigation, verification of qualifications and job requirements, completion of onboarding forms, submission of required documents).