Research Postdoctoral Fellow

Location: Research and Innovation Building

7144 13th Place NW

Washington, DC 20012

Kids Are Our Everything.

Department

10379 Ctr for Cancer Immunology Rsch

Pay Range

$40,000.00 - $150,000.00

The Rokita Lab at Children’s National Hospital is seeking a highly skilled Postdoctoral Fellow to join our team. We are situated within the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research (CCIR) and Brain Tumor Institute. This position will advance research on how pediatric brain tumors evolve across the full course of disease, from diagnosis through end of life.

The role involves close collaboration with researchers and clinicians within both Children’s National as well as external partners. The successful candidate will be mentored by Dr. Jo Lynne Rokita, lead bioinformatics-driven projects, participate in collaborative activities in the lab and BTI such as code review and/or workshop training, and contribute to grant applications and scientific manuscripts.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead high-quality bioinformatics analyses on pediatric brain tumor datasets spanning genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic data across longitudinal and spatial postmortem samples.
• Design and implement downstream analytical workflows for high-throughput data using our GitHub, Docker, and AWS infrastructure, focusing on reproducibility, code efficiency, and scalability.
• Utilize cloud-computing environments (e.g., AWS EC2) and/or high-performance computing (HPC) to support large-scale or memory-intensive analyses.
• Actively and positively participate in sprints and code reviews, ensuring high standards for reproducibility and documentation.
• Engage with multidisciplinary teams, providing bioinformatics expertise to support collaborative research initiatives.

Application Process

This position will be remote. Candidates should be prepared to share their GitHub handle and present a recent project as part of the interview process.

Required Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Quantitative Biology, Cancer Genetics, or related field.
• Expertise in Bash and either R or Python.
• Proficiency with cloud-based or high-performance computing environments for bioinformatics workflows.
• Proven experience with multiple genomic data types such as single nucleotide variants (SNVs), copy number variants, fusions, RNA expression, methylation, proteomics, and splicing data.
• Commitment to open science practices, including sharing and collaborating on code, data, and documentation.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate with other team members.

Preferred Skills

• Preference will be given to those with cancer biology/genetics bioinformatics experience.
• Experience with tools and best practices for reproducibility such as Git and Docker.

The Research Postdoctoral Fellow is a "research trainee" for the purpose of enhancing and developing research competencies in laboratory or clinical research settings and may engage in any of the following activities. The research postdoctoral fellow will assist faculty in the conduct of research and reports to a principal investigator or CNRI Center Director. They may serve in several roles in the laboratory setting, depending on the scientific specialty and needs of the research project supported.

They may participate directly in the design and conduct of experiments and therefore need technical knowledge and subject matter expertise encompassing several disciplines, such as molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, genetics, physiology or animal science, as well as epidemiology, health services research, clinical research, trial design and human subjects protection, as applicable to the focus of the lab. Based on experience, the research postdoctoral fellow may train staff, graduate students and others in experimental procedures and study execution.

The fellow will exercise general supervision in the workspace and assist with data management and analysis. In addition, the research postdoc fellow will be responsible for assisting the principal investigator in the planning and execution of research projects, grant applications and publications. They may further assist in the management of resource allocations, and may manage day-to-day activities for the research project, such as purchasing, oversight of laboratory animals, radioactivity and biosafety issues or human subjects enrollment and protection and regulatory reporting.

The individual may also guide or lead the work of peers, technicians or other research support staff as necessary to achieve specific assignments or complete large and complex projects.

Minimum Education

• Consistently demonstrates adherence to the standards for the responsible conduct of research.
• Plans, conducts and manages research projects within federal and institutional regulations and policies under the direction of the principal investigator.
• Uses research funds and resources appropriately.
• Maintains confidentiality of data as required.
• Meets all annual job-related training and compliance requirements.