The University of Colorado seeks a full-time Postdoctoral Fellow to work in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Endocrinology, at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado.

The Bjornstad Research Group is a well-funded and innovative team at UC-AMC that investigates and seeks to understand the development of complications (e.g., heart and kidney disease) in obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, among other diseases. We aim to understand the causes of complications, and ultimately translate the findings into therapies and preventive strategies.

The Bjornstad Research Group is seeking a full-time postdoctoral fellow with a strong background in omics analysis (e.g., proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and lipidomics), biomarker analysis and/or MRI or PET data analysis (experience in all of these areas is not expected or needed). Successful applicants must be motivated, reliable, and mature, able to multi-task and learn new tasks quickly, and have strong interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills (both verbal and written). Our team seeks to understand the metabolic, molecular and hormonal determinants of kidney and heart disease in children and adults with obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Our team is actively working on multiple clinical projects and trials collecting omics data from blood, urine and tissue (e.g., kidney) as well multimodal MRI and PET data, and we are seeking a postdoctoral fellow to make significant contributions to data analysis and manuscript writing. The postdoctoral fellow will also be responsible for assisting with MRI and omics data collection and management of large cohort studies and mechanistic trials. This position is ideal for individuals interested in pursuing an independent research career in an academic setting, and the fellow will be fully supported in the pursuit of independent funding (e.g., NRSA fellowship [T32], K Award [K01]).

The trainee may be responsible for supervision of undergraduate and graduate students who work directly with him/her/them on projects within the Bjornstad Research Group.

Areas of Responsibility / Scope of Research

Postdoctoral Research Project: The fellow would join a team of physician-scientists, epidemiologists, statisticians and scientists conducting research in pediatric and adult cohort studies evaluating novel risk factors and determinants of heart and kidney disease in obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as mechanistic trials examining how weight loss surgery and new therapies improve heart and kidney function.

Manuscript Preparation, Analysis, and Publication: The fellow is expected to focus his/her/their efforts on a well-defined research project. The fellow will be responsible for manuscript preparation, analysis, and publication of data generated from the postdoctoral research project. In addition to these papers, the trainee will assist Dr. Bjornstad and collaborators with literature review, statistical analysis, and manuscript development of additional papers. Grant Writing: The fellow will assist Dr. Bjornstad in developing new grant ideas and applications for internal and external grants involving cohorts and trials directed by the Bjornstad Research Group.

Other Responsibilities: The fellow will assist with general statistical needs of the Bjornstad Research Group and study collaborators including consulting on appropriate analytical strategies, implementation of analyses in trainee’s choice of statistical packages, interpretation of results, and assisting with writing analysis and results sections of grants and manuscripts. Mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students may be incorporated into the trainee’s responsibilities as those opportunities become available. The position requires planning, executing, and troubleshooting analyses with minimal supervision on a daily basis.