In this issue:

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Computational Cancer Genomics
Director of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Faculty Biostatistics & Epidemiology – Collaborator for the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health
Senior Postdoctoral Fellow / Staff Scientist in Quantitative Single Cell Systems Biology
AI Scientist

Creating a Narrative Around Your Professional Skills

How to Get Your Job in the Career Compass

Career Compass Featured Jobs featured

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Computational Cancer Genomics postdoc
Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital
MGH Cancer Center, HMS Department of Biomedical Infomatics
Job description: The Gülhan Lab is seeking multiple postdoctoral fellows to work on innovative computational methods in the research areas of interest of the lab.

Below is a list of example projects:

1. Mutational signature analysis:
Building innovative signature analysis methods addressing some of the limitations of existing approaches.

Improving accuracy and interpretability of signatures by deconvoluting their temporal and genomic locus dependence.
Applying these methods in large datasets and by building an effective multi-study discovery strategy.
Comprehensive characterization of genomic instability mechanisms and patient classification through multi-modal signature analysis methods.

2. Liquid biopsy tests with cell-free DNA:
Building a comprehensive set of algorithms for mutation, tumor detection and gene expression inference methods; Utilizing them in development of an early-cancer detection cell-free DNA test and studying drug resistance mechanisms.

High accuracy single-nucleotide variant and indel detection through the use of signatures and machine learning
Building fragmentomics model for improved CNV and tumor fraction inference
Enhanced tumor detection using mutations and fragmentomics jointly
Gene expression inference methods

3. Long read single-cell sequencing:
Developing tools for joint genome and transcriptome profiling and using it to study early cancer development mechanisms and dynamic shifts in cancer cell composition in pre-/post-treatment biopsies in patients treated with targeted therapies.

Calling copy number variants, single-nucleotide variants, and indels from long-read scRNA-seq data. Studying mutational processes and their intratumor heterogeneity
Multi-modal characterization of single cells to detect cancer cells in precursor lesions
Multi-modal characterization of changes in molecular characteristics of cellular composition of tumors in highly heterogeneous metastatic tumors
Studying haploinsufficiency of immune cells in DNA-repair gene mutation carriers

Postdocs will get the chance to be a part of supportive and inclusive communities such as the Bioinformatics team at the Krantz Family Center for Cancer Research at MGH and the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School. They will work closely with clinical teams at the forefront of precision oncology. Additionally, we accommodate remote or hybrid positions.

Director of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics director
Institute for Protein Innovation, Boston, Massachusetts
Job description: The Institute for Protein Innovation (IPI)is a nonprofit research organization advancing protein science to accelerate research and improve human health. Founded in 2017 and located in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area, the Institute’s three-pronged strategy is to build protein tools, conduct related internal research and develop educational programs for the protein science and biological research communities.

With a significant endowment, IPI uniquely combines the freedom of academia with the high throughput and scale of industry to take on transformative projects. IPI has built a robust platform for discovering, developing, and distributing synthetic antibodies and other protein tools to share with the biomedical community. The Institute's deep protein expertise, collaborative spirit and research tools are powering new biomedical and therapeutic discoveries with a growing community of researchers at Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital and other institutions across Greater Boston and beyond.

Purpose
The Director of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics will lead and manage the computational biology and bioinformatics team. The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and implementing computational strategies to support cutting-edge research and development in the fields of protein science, antibody discovery, proteomics, systems biology, scientific databases, machine learning, and others. This role will involve collaboration with cross-functional teams to drive the discovery and development of novel molecules, technologies, and scientific publications. This individual will be a key member of IPI's scientific leadership team.

Primary Areas of Responsibility

Lead and mentor a team of computational biologists and bioinformaticians, fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment.
Develop and execute strategic plans for the computational biology and bioinformatics group aligned with the organization’s goals.
Manage project timelines, budgets, and resources to ensure successful project delivery.
Work closely with other departments to ensure computational support for various research and development projects. This group will initially support IPI's research platforms, internal databases, and external product catalogs of antigens and antibodies.
Drive the development of new computational tools, pipelines, and platforms to enhance data analysis capabilities. These include but are not limited to in vitro antibody discovery data, protein biophysical characterization, proteomic analysis, and others.
Ensure the integration and analysis of large datasets to generate actionable biological insights.
Collaborate with experimental scientists, data scientists, and other stakeholders to design and interpret experiments, providing data-driven recommendations.
Communicate complex computational analyses and results to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Stay current on the latest advancements in computational biology and bioinformatics and incorporate relevant technologies and methodologies.
Promote adopting best practices in data management, reproducibility, and collaborative research.

Faculty Biostatistics & Epidemiology – Collaborator for the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health brain
Cleveland Clinic
Job description: The Cleveland Clinic Department of Quantitative Health Sciences has a faculty opening, at the Cleveland Ohio Main Campus, for an early to mid-career biostatistician with interest in a long-term commitment to lead biostatical collaborations with Cleveland Clinic's Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health (LRCBH). The center is dedicated to the care of patients with memory loss, dementia and other cognitive/behavioral disorders of aging, the pursuit of a better understanding of the underlying pathobiology of these disorders, and the development of more effective treatments. The center is located on the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. The LRCBH is home to the NIA sponsored Cleveland Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (CADRC) and has a Research Center of Excellence designation by the Lewy Body Dementia Association. The research budget at the center is over 25 million dollars.

The primary need for the next five-eight years is for the statistical expert to be able to leverage multiplex analyte platforms, proteomic data, and MRI/PET imaging along with clinical variables to help develop data driven disease progression models and risk assessment. The successful candidate will lead biostatistical design and analysis for observational studies and clinical trials. Additional expertise in one or more of the following areas would be desirable: novel clinical trial design, developing computational pipelines for high-dimensional data analysis, modelling multidimensional datasets, machine learning, omics analyses, longitudinal modeling, structural equations modeling, use of electronic medical record data, and adaptive network analysis. Currently the center employs one Master’s degree Biostatistician whom the new hire will oversee and mentor. LRCBH investigators seek expertise from a PhD-level scientist for addressing complex research questions in neurodegenerative disease research, database management and study design.

This is a hard-money position with no explicit requirements to obtain salary support.

The position is 70% collaboration and 30% protected time for independent research.

The position includes an appointment to the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University at rank commensurate with experience. Candidates should enjoy collaborating on and bringing creative analytic approaches to complex problems in neurodegenerative disease research and have a strong desire to publish journal articles. Excellent English written and oral communication skills are essential.

The Department of Quantitative Health Sciences has 30 faculty and over 130 members. Areas of disciplinary research application include biostatistical methods, clinical trials, population health, statistical genetics, bioinformatics, statistical computing, predictive modeling, and computational biology. For more career information see the Quantitative Health Sciences Career site.

The metropolitan and suburban areas of Cleveland comprise a population of over 3 million, rich in cultural resources and diversity. The city itself is centrally located to several other large cities and enjoys a low cost of living index. Cleveland Clinic is among the world’s largest, busiest health centers, and ranked the second-best U.S. hospital by U.S. News & World Report.

Cleveland Clinic is pleased to be an equal employment/affirmative action employer: Women/Minorities/Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities are encouraged to apply.

We are a smoke/drug free environment.

Senior Postdoctoral Fellow / Staff Scientist in Quantitative Single Cell Systems Biology senior
Vanderbilt University, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Nashville, Tennessee
Job description: The Neuert Lab at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, is seeking a highly motivated Ph.D.-level researcher to join our team. Our lab focuses on quantitatively understanding the fundamental molecular mechanisms of signal transduction and gene regulation in single cells. We are particularly interested in candidates with expertise in computational and experimental single-cell biology, with a focus on signaling or transcription.

AI Scientist ai
HHMI Janelia, Ashburn, Virginia
Job description: The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Scientist is an outstanding independent scientist who develops, implements, and executes innovative AI-based research projects in the pursuit of biological discoveries or the generation of new research tools. AI Scientists create, lead, or participate in research projects of highly variable scale, ranging from individual work to HHMI-wide strategic initiatives. The AI Scientist will work closely with scientists from across the broader HHMI community. They participate in, build, or supervise highly collaborative research teams consisting of other scientists, engineers, and technicians. We are hiring multiple AI Scientists and are open to various levels of experience.

What We Provide:

A competitive compensation package with comprehensive health and welfare benefits. In addition to the base salary described below, this position may also be eligible for incentive pay.
Generous training and travel opportunities to workshops and conferences.
Access to state- of- the- art computational infrastructure and extended capabilities provided through assistance from Janelia’s Support teams and Project teams.
A healthy work-life balance, with on-site childcare, free gyms, on-campus housing, vibrant social and dining spaces, and shuttle-bus service to Janelia from Washington, DC metro area!
Flexible work arrangements are available.
Relocation assistance provided for non-local candidates who wish to transition to the Washington, DC, metro area.

What You'll Do:

Plan, initiate, and rigorously execute independent or collaborative AI-based research; may oversee personnel and budgets toward this goal.
Perform scientific duties on new and varied problems where only general objectives are stated.
Explore and develop new methods, skills, and tools. Make research outputs available through peer-reviewed scientific publications, high-quality datasets, code, and applications.
Collaborate with other scientists, engineers, and technicians across project teams.
Initiate and be flexible to transfer between projects and groups as appropriate and participate in reviewing other projects and scientists and providing constructive feedback and guidance.
Perform advanced development work to obtain and maintain technical leadership in the field of AI.
Assist HHMI and Janelia leadership in planning and execution of program-wide initiatives; ensure coordination with related efforts or other projects and research areas.
Explore and develop new methods, skills, and tools. Make your research outputs available through peer-reviewed scientific publications, high-quality datasets, code, and applications.
Adhere to the highest academic, scientific, and ethical standards in all professional activities, including the responsible use of AI technologies.

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Creating a Narrative Around Your Professional Skills

If you’re struggling with creating your personal elevator pitch from last month’s article, taking a step back and focusing on crafting a narrative around your professional skills might be a better place to begin. A professional narrative is more reflective and conversational, and might feel more natural as you’re figuring out who you are in a professional capacity.

What is a Professional Narrative?

Your professional narrative tells the story of your career to date. It can be a crucial tool in your job search toolkit if you’re branching out to find your first job, if you’re leaving academia, or if you’re making a major pivot in your career. As Ibarra and Lineback state, “[a] narrative thread will give meaning to your career history; it will assure you that, in moving on to something new, you are not discarding everything you’ve worked so hard to accomplish.”

To be clear, a professional narrative isn’t a spoken-word version of your resume or CV. It’s not a list of facts. It’s a story that gives context to make the facts on your resume meaningful. It’s a way to get listeners invested in who you are and what you’re after for your career.

Steps to Create Your Narrative

Below are some quick tips to get started with your professional narrative:

Reflect on your journey: Consider your career path by reflecting on significant experiences, challenges, and pivotal moments that have influenced your professional identity.
Define your core values and skills: Determine what core values have been most important in guiding your professional decisions and actions and how these values align with your career goals. Consider what skills—both hard and soft skills—and strengths you’ve developed thanks to your academic, work, and life experiences.
Craft a compelling story: Using anecdotes and examples to highlight your experiences and make your narrative relatable, organize your reflections, values, skills, and accomplishments into a cohesive narrative that includes
- an introduction describing who you are
- a body outlining your key experiences and skills
- a conclusion detailing your aspirations and what you offer.
Tailor for your audience: Consider where and with whom you will be sharing your narrative story (e.g., networking events, online communities) and what aspects will resonate most with different audiences. Emphasize the most relevant experiences and skills for each audience.
Practice and refine: Rehearse your completed professional narrative story until it’s clear and you’re confident in the details. Ensure the body language and tone you use align with the story you’re telling and the message you’re hoping to convey.

In the body of your narrative, make use of accomplishment stories: stories of your accomplishments to show your skills and values in action. And use the STAR method to make your story even more impactful! To implement the STAR method in these stories, include a description of the:

Situation you had to deal with
Task you were set
Action you took
Result of your action

Final Thoughts

Remember that your professional narrative is more conversational and informal than an elevator pitch, so don’t stress about crafting it! If you’re really stuck, try looking at examples of the STAR method or finding a worksheet to guide your story crafting process (like this one). With a little work and a little practice, your professional narrative will start to feel like second nature, and you’ll be telling your story in a way that's uniquely you!

Sources:

Ibarra, H., & Lineback, K. (2005). What’s Your Story? Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2005/01/whats-your-story
VMI Alumni Association, Inc. (n.d.). Accomplishment Stories & Exit Statements. VMI Alumni Agencies.
https://vmi.imodules.com/s/1752/alumni/index.aspx?sid=1752&gid=2&pgid=1500
Yale Office of Career Strategy. (2021, August 23). Module 2: Building your Professional Narrative. Yale University.
https://ocs.yale.edu/stem-ppg-module-2-building-your-professional-narrative-2/
Yale Office of Career Strategy. (n.d.). Accomplishment Stories Worksheet. Yale University.
https://cdn.ocs.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/77/2020/06/Career-Strategy-Worksheet_-Interview-Prep_-5.28.20.pdf
Yale Office of Career Strategy. (n.d.). Your Personal Marketing Plan. Yale University. https://ocs.yale.edu/channels/phd-personal-marketing-plan/

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