The Puig Laboratory is seeking a Postdoctoral fellow with training or expertise in opioid neuropharmacology, rodent behavior and circuits. Our lab is engaged in several projects focused on investigating the neurocircuitry, signaling and genetics mediating opioid analgesia, tolerance, and opioid use disorders. The candidate will join a highly interactive and collaborative research team with the opportunity to interact among research groups across multiple departments and institutions. The funded fellowship is for 3 years, providing opportunities for training in psychiatry, neurobiology, translational neuroscience, biochemistry, molecular biology, microscopy imaging, ‘-omics’, computational biology, and cell culture.

The Postdoctoral fellow will contribute to and lead projects that aim to understand the molecular/cellular mechanisms and circuits underlying opioid mediated side effects. Approaches in our laboratory include (but not restricted to) rodent behavioral pharmacology, optogenetics, biochemistry (Western/IP-IB/ELISA), molecular biology (PCR/RT-PCR), immuno- or probe-labeling (IHC/FISH/RNAscope), microscopy (fluorescence/confocal/slide scanning/live-cell), cell culture, gene transfection (AAV, lipofection), protein/RNA extraction, single nuclei RNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics, and bulk tissue proteomics. They will be able to use and be trained at techniques described above and will be encouraged to bring/develop novel methods and approaches based on interests and evolution of the projects. Current projects investigate the biology of opioid signaling in chronic pain and opioid use disorder, with the opportunity to expand into new substances and research areas of disease. The opportunity will foster career growth towards academia or industry roles, while contributing to a rewarding area of research. The fellowship will be tailored to the career goals of the candidate. Salary will comm

Primary Responsibilities

• Conduct independent and collaborative research projects.
• Designs, develops, and performs experiments independently and in collaboration with other lab members.
• Analyzes, interprets, and presents data at laboratory meetings as well as at local and international meetings.
• Assists with manuscript preparation and submission, along with reporting of methods, data, and results for grant submissions at private and federal levels

Qualifications

• PhD in neuroscience, pharmacology, psychiatry or related fields
• Experience in rodent neuropharmacology and behavioral analysis is required
• Preferred experience in mouse/rat genetics, optogenetics/chemogenetics
• Preferred experience in the several of the following: cell culture, biochemistry, molecular biology, microscopy, standard bioinformatics tools and packages; understanding of R and/or Python; and understanding of statistics, computational analysis of ‘omics datasets, such as RNA-seq is a plus.
• Ability to multitask and prioritize efforts across multiple projects, work collaboratively with technicians, graduate students, other postdoctoral fellows, and senior researchers.

Apply

Please send the following:

• Brief Cover Letter describing specific interest in the fellowship, highlighting relevant skills and experience
• Academic CV or Resume
• Contact Information for 3 References

Please email documents to:

Stephanie Puig, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobiology

University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

Stephanie.puig1@umassmed.edu