Postdoctoral Research Associate - Microbiome & Host-Pathogen Interactions

The laboratory of Dr. Peijun Ma in the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN is a rapidly growing research group applying cutting-edge bacterial single-cell genomics and transcriptomics to understand how bacterial populations survive antibiotics, interact with host environments, and evolve resistance or persistence.

Building on our expertise in single-cell RNA-seq technology development and our work on antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative pathogens, our lab is expanding into the microbiome and host-pathogen interaction space. We aim to dissect how bacterial communities adapt and survive in host-like environments, how microbiota modulate pathogen behavior, and how colonization dynamics influence drug responses.

We are particularly interested in applying single-cell technologies to investigate microbiome composition, colonization biology, and bacterial adaptation in host tissues — with the long-term goal of identifying new therapeutic strategies for pediatric infectious diseases.

Preferred Expertise and Experience

We are seeking a motivated and collaborative postdoctoral researcher to lead and support ongoing work in microbiome-host-pathogen interactions. Ideal candidates will have experience in:

• Microbiome research (e.g., culturing, gnotobiotic models, 16S or metagenomic sequencing)
• Molecular microbiology or bacterial genetics
• Host-pathogen interactions in animal models

Familiarity with anaerobic culture techniques, bacterial colonization models, or next-generation sequencing workflows (library prep, rRNA depletion, etc.) is highly desirable. Basic computational analysis skills (e.g., R or Python for sequencing data) are a plus but not required.

Candidates must be team-oriented, organized, and enthusiastic about collaborative science. We are particularly interested in individuals who enjoy mentoring junior trainees and maintaining a positive lab environment.

Minimum Education

• Ph.D. in microbiology, host-pathogen interaction, microbiome, or a related field.

St. Jude is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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