Postdoc opening The Thyme Lab  (this is a grant funded postdoc position: zebrafish, neurodevelopmental disorders, and/or protein engineering)

The Thyme lab (https://www.thymelab.org/) uses zebrafish as a model system to understand the genetic mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders. We also employ protein engineering techniques to build tools to assist with our zebrafish studies. Experiments will potentially utilize the following techniques, depending on the project: molecular biology (PCR, cloning), zebrafish genome-editing, zebrafish line maintenance, antibody staining, RNA in situ analysis, high-resolution imaging, biochemistry (protein purification), bacterial directed evolution, high-throughput larval behavior, drug screens, and transcriptomics (bulk and single-cell RNA-seq). Analysis of most data from the lab requires cluster computing, and postdocs will be trained in this area as well as in Python scripting or other languages if there is an interest or need.

The Thyme lab is a unique environment, as it merges the divergent approaches of Dr. Thyme’s graduate work in protein engineering and postdoctoral work in zebrafish neurobiology. The lab is an ideal fit for a candidate with an interest in either area who wants to explore a new and different direction without risk, as the lab’s diversity offers the possibility of backup projects in both fields. For example, applicants could include a biochemist who wants to gain experience with a model organism or anyone with zebrafish expertise who wants to think more about the details of proteins underlying neurodevelopmental disorders. Applicants could also include someone with experience in a different model system, such as Drosophila or C. Elegans, who is interested in developing skills with zebrafish. Those who want to bring a new field to the lab are welcome to merge their graduate skills with zebrafish research and create their own unique brand. For example, someone with stem cell expertise could design a project that leverages the expertise in our lab but also uses iPSC neurons.

The lab opened in July 2019, and Dr. Thyme has already been awarded several highly prestigious new faculty awards, including the Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship and the limited submission Mallinckrodt Grant and Pew Biomedical Scholars Award. Research from the past few years (in preparation papers) includes genes that increase risk for autism and schizophrenia, unstudied proteins with domains of unknown function (the dark proteome) and likely neurobiological roles, and conserved alternative splicing events that are important to normal neurodevelopment. In the future, the lab is moving toward studies of intellectual disability and Down syndrome while also continuing our efforts to build new tools for improved drug screening and genome engineering. The majority of funding for this position will be coming from the development of new tools and drug screening to find compounds that can ameliorate phenotypes in zebrafish models of neurodevelopmental disorders, but we are open to continuing work on all of our ongoing projects. See grant description*: https://reporter.nih.gov/search/K-D1iICEFUWjpBFhZxCtAA/project-details/10472146
*The second aim of building new tools (genome-editing and sequencing approaches) to measure neural development and activity in a high-throughput way is of high interest for a postdoctoral project.

To apply or inquire further, please send a brief email of interest and CV, along with the contact information (email) of at least two references to Summer.Thyme@umassmed.edu