Staff Scientist (Immunology of Oral Tissues)

Position Overview: The Oral Immunobiology Unit at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) is seeking a highly skilled and motivated Staff Scientist to join our innovative and collaborative team. The successful candidate will lead and contribute to pioneering research projects, utilizing Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based assays, conducting in vivo and in vitro experiments, and performing human and mouse tissue processing and culture. Our lab focuses primarily on immune responses in oral cavity tissues, including the oral mucosa and salivary glands, but projects may also extend to other tissues as relevant to the scientific questions we pursue. The Staff Scientist will play an essential role in advancing our understanding of immune system induction and the pathogenesis of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), aiming to identify and evaluate new therapeutic targets. This position offers a unique opportunity to drive impactful translational research within a collaborative, diverse, and resource-rich scientific environment. Key responsibilities will include laboratory management, strategic research planning, manuscript development and writing, bench work, data analysis, and mentoring trainees in their project development and execution.

Key Responsibilities:

• Carry out ex vivo experiments with human tissues and other samples including flow cytometric analysis, RNAseq, immunohistochemistry and other relevant analyses to understand the immune system function in health and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).
• Independently design and execute experiments using single cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, spatial proteomics, mammalian tissue processing and culture.
• Development, characterization, and treatment of mouse models for studying dynamics of the immune response or other biologic processes.
• Establish, maintain, and advance a mouse program for the targeted study of GVHD mechanisms. This includes maintaining the Animal Study Protocol (ASP) and other related regulatory documents and directing lab staff in any murine breeding program needed to support this work.
• Establishment of cell-based assays, ex vivo and in vitro, for the assessment of human and murine biology, as their function, apoptosis, proliferation, differentiation, migration and phenotype characterization.
• Perform analyses of human and murine tissues, such as histology, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, proteomic or bioinformatic analyses.
• Analyze clinical trial samples using immunologic, proteomic, genetic and immunohistochemistry techniques as required by the study including interfacing with relevant core facilities or commercial scientific services to characterize key features of GVHD response to therapies and other relevant endpoints.
• Identifying pitfalls in ongoing research plans and the redirection of the study to achieve improved results, pursuing training on novel techniques when necessary.
• Supervise laboratory personnel, including trainees (postbac and postdoc), in experimental design, execution, and analysis.
• Manage laboratory resources with good stewardship, including equipment maintenance, procurement of supplies, and adherence to safety protocols.
• Communicate research findings to the scientific community by developing and writing scientific manuscripts, working on collaborative original and review publications in peer-reviewed journals; carry out oral presentations in seminars and national and international meetings.
• Collaborate with scientists at NIDCR and other institutions to advance exchange of technical knowledge and novel biomedical approaches within the research community.
• Stay abreast of recent advancements in mucosal immunology, single cell, spatial biology, and related fields.
• Contribute to the preparation of scientific publications, presentations, and grant proposals.

• Ph.D. in Biology, Immunology, or a related field.
• At least ten (10) years of experience in Immunology and five (5) years of post-doctoral research experience in mucosal immunology and/or transplant biology.
• Knowledge and experience in high dimensional human omics data analysis, such as those arising from studies of the genome, epigenome, RNA-seq, single cell RNA-seq, proteome.
• Expertise in mammalian tissue processing and culture, use of mouse models, as well as in standard immunology and molecular biology techniques: western blotting; PCR; spectral flow cytometry; multiplex immunohistochemistry; ELISA.
• Proficiency in laboratory management, including supervision of personnel, electronic notebook implementation, procurement and purchasing, and safety protocols.
• Strong publication record demonstrating contributions to the fields of mucosal immunology, salivary biology, Graft-versus-Host disease, and NGS-based assays.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a diverse scientific environment.

Selection for this position will be based solely on merit, with no discrimination for non-merit reasons such as race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, marital status, disability, age, or membership or non-membership in an employee organization. The NIH encourages the application and nomination of qualified women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities.