Day: January 28, 2019

Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Nutrition at the University of California, Davis. The postdoctoral researcher will work in the Zivkovic Lab on projects related to HDL functional biology. The Zivkovic Lab specializes in the functional biology of HDL particles, particularly in the context of dietary modulation and in chronic inflammatory conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease. The Zivkovic Lab studies the relationship between diet, the gut microbiome, and HDL. Specifically, we:
• Utilize -omic technologies to characterize the composition of HDL particles and the composition and function of the gut microbiome
• Isolate HDL by size exclusion chromatography and characterize the interactions between HDL particles and immune cells, particularly macrophages, to understand the immunomodulatory capacity of HDL under a variety of conditions
• Synthesize HDL particles to test the effects of specific compositional and structural alterations on functional capacity
• Apply and develop bioinformatics tools to integrate, visualize, and analyze multi-omic and clinical data

This position is primarily to conduct experiments in the Zivkovic Lab by working closely with PI Dr. Angela Zivkovic, as well as graduate and undergraduate students in the lab. The postdoctoral researcher will have primary responsibility for specific aims of a recently funded NIH grant on the links between HDL composition and function, and Alzheimer’s Disease, with a specific emphasis on the impact of glycosylation. The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to design and conduct experiments based on project tasks, process, analyze, and interpret data, train and oversee graduate and undergraduate students on specific lab tasks (described below), and prepare project reports, technical publications, and presentations.

Qualifications: Applicants should have a Ph.D. in Nutritional Biology, Molecular Cell Biology, Lipidology, Physiology, or related field. The qualified candidate will have the ability to conduct independent research. Excellent oral and written communication skills and a team-oriented perspective are required. Experience with the following laboratory techniques is preferred:
• FPLC, HPLC, LC-MS
• Cell culture (particularly immune cells)
• Basic biochemical techniques (ELISA, GE, WB, Ficoll extraction and other sample prep)
• Computational biology/programming (R, gut microbiome data analysis tools)
• Immunoprecipitation
• PCR
• Microarrays
• Electron microscopy
• MS-based metabolomics, proteomics, lipidomics, glycomics techniques
• 16S/shotgun sequencing