Title:  Postdoctoral Associate

Summary

A Postdoctoral Associate position is available in Dr. Xia Gao's laboratory in the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. We are interested in the interactions of nutrition, metabolism, and the development and treatment of metabolic diseases, such as obesity and cancer. The goal is to identify nutritional interventions and metabolic pathways for prevention and treatment of metabolic diseases. We employ untargeted and targeted metabolomic analysis and isotope tracing studies using newly vested in-house Thermo Exploris 480 LC/MS instrument. Along with this powerful analytical tool, we use various in vivo mouse models and in vitro models to define the role of nutritional input and the underlying mechanisms in disease development and control. For instance, we have recently (Nature, 2019) employed metabolomics approaches to show that dietary methionine restriction is an effective and feasible dietary intervention in healthy humans and mice to alter circulating metabolism without overt side effect. Dietary methionine restriction has shown promising in various mouse cancer models alone or in combination with chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Per grant funding requirements for this position, only US citizens can be hired into this position.

Job Duties

• Plans, directs and conducts specialized and advanced research experiments.
• Evaluates and analyzes data.
• Establishes new research protocols and procedures.
• Summarizes research findings and publishes results in research journals. 
• Responsible for laboratory operations.
• Supervises research staff.
• Defines the mechanisms underlying methionine restriction mediated tumor inhibition.
• Determines the therapeutic potential of dietary methionine restriction in various cancer types and stages.
• Investigates amino acid metabolism in adipogenesis.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education Required: MD or Ph.D. in Basic Science, Health Science, or a related field.
• No experience required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ph.D. or M.D. interested in our research and with prior experience or expertise in:
  • analytical chemistry,
  • cell biology,
  • biochemistry,
  • molecular biology,
  • mouse physiology,
  • metabolism,
  • cancer,
  • diabetes, and others are encouraged to apply.