Career Opportunities

CURRENT OPENINGS

MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science – Ragon Institute Search Open Position:

The Ragon Institute, together with the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, MA is seeking outstanding scientists for tenured faculty positions to start on July 1, 2021 or on a mutually agreed date thereafter. The Ragon Institute has its own recently renovated building located near the heart of MIT. The Ragon Institute was officially established in February 2009 as a joint institute involving faculty from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT, and Harvard University. IMES was established in 2012 as the center for Human Science on the MIT campus, and integrates engineering, science, and medicine to advance and accelerate innovation in health through research and education.

This search is for candidate(s) to be hired into a tenured faculty position at MIT. Applicants must have a Ph.D. and/or M.D. (or equivalent degree) in engineering, science, or a closely related field, have a track record of exceptional achievement in basic or translational research, and an outstanding independent research program that supports the two institutes’ shared goal of harnessing the immune system to prevent and cure human diseases.

Several opportunities exist at the interface of IMES and the Ragon Institute, such as addressing challenges pertinent to infectious diseases and auto-immune disorders. Broad areas of mutual interest include understanding the physical and biological mechanisms underlying how the immune system functions, applied microbiology and virology, and efforts that leverage this knowledge and engineering design to develop therapies, diagnostics, and vaccines that can be translated to the clinic. More specific topics of interest include: 1. systems biology, machine learning, physics-based modeling, and approaches directed toward understanding innate and adaptive immunity with the goal of preventing and curing disease; 2. the development of new vaccination concepts and adjuvants; 3. the design of new delivery approaches for vaccines and therapies; and, 4. diagnostic approaches that enable rapid and reliable detection of pathogens and monitoring of biomarkers of immunity. The applicant should present a strong research plan which can synergize with ongoing basic, applied and translational research efforts at the Ragon Institute and in IMES.

MIT faculty duties include teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate levels, research, and supervision of student research. The successful candidate will be provided with a generous start-up package to complement outstanding laboratory and office space, as well as access to state-of-the-art core facilities including advanced flow cytometry, microscopy, BSL-3 facilities, and an extensive clinical specimen repository. The successful candidate will be expected to build and maintain an internationally recognized, extramurally funded research program complemented by substantial support from Institute funds. The candidate should possess the ability to work collaboratively with other scientists and engineers, in addition to the scholarly qualities required to mentor doctoral students from graduate programs at MIT.

Interested candidates should submit application materials electronically https://school-of-engineering-faculty-search.mit.edu/mit-ragon. Each application must include: a curriculum vitae; the names and addresses of three or more references; a strategic statement of research interests;

and a statement of teaching interests. In addition, candidates should provide a statement

regarding their views on diversity, inclusion, and belonging, including past and current

contributions as well as their vision and plans for the future in these areas. It is the responsibility

of the candidate to arrange for reference letters to be uploaded at https://faculty-searches.mit.edu/letters/.

Please address questions to imes-search@mit.edu.

Responses received by December 1, 2020 will be given priority.

With MIT’s strong commitment to diversity in engineering and science education and research, we especially encourage those who will contribute to our diversity and outreach efforts to apply.

MIT is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, skin color, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, ancestry, or national or ethnic origin.

MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science – Athinoula A. Martinos Professor Search Open Position:

The Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) http://imes.mit.edu/ at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts invites applicants to apply for a tenured or tenure track faculty position in the area of biomedical imaging to begin July 1, 2021 or thereafter.

The successful candidate will be appointed to a tenured or tenure track faculty position commensurate on experience at MIT as the Athinoula A. Martinos Professor. The successful candidate is expected to work closely with and have an appointment at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Functional and Structural Biomedical Imaging, in particular the facilities housed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

IMES is pioneering novel research and graduate education paradigms at the convergence of engineering, science, and medicine. IMES also houses the Harvard-MIT Health Science and Technology (HST) program, the Medical Electronic Device Realization Center, the Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, and MIT’s Clinical Research Center.

Appointments will be made in IMES and the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) department at MIT.

Applicants should hold a Ph.D. in engineering, science, or a related field (including MD or MD/PhD) by the beginning of employment. The candidate should have demonstrated excellence in original research and teaching. The successful candidate will be expected to fulfill all teaching, research and service obligations of a faculty member at MIT. Faculty duties include teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, advising students, conducting original scholarly research, developing course materials at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and service to MIT and the profession.

Interested candidates should submit application materials electronically at https://school-of-engineering-faculty-search.mit.edu/imes-senior-search/register.tcl. Each application should include: curriculum vitae; the names and addresses of three or more references; a strategic statement of research interests; and a statement of teaching interests. Each candidate must arrange for reference letters to be uploaded at https://imes-senior-search.mit.edu/letters.

Candidates should provide a statement regarding their views on diversity, inclusion, and belonging, including past and current contributions as well as their vision and plans in these areas.

Questions should be addressed to imes-search@mit.edu. To be considered complete, responses must be received by February 1, 2021.

With MIT’s strong commitment to diversity in engineering education, research, and practice we especially encourage minorities and women to apply.

MIT is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, ancestry, or national or ethnic origin. MIT’s full policy on Nondiscrimination can be found here.”

Technical Associate I – Job ID #19158

Position overview: This is for the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES)-Shalek Lab, to join a lab which specializes in leveraging novel single-cell genomic approaches to understand the behaviors of complex biological systems. Will focus on human cancers, both liquid (e.g., leukemias and lymphomas) and solid (e.g., pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma) tumors. Research questions center on the ecosystem of various tumors and how their malignant transcriptional phenotypes relate to the local microenvironment. The core technique that will be learned and applied is Seq-Well, an in-house and customizable platform for single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) and library generation from thousands of cells. Will independently perform single-nucleus sequencing on banked tissue; receive and process samples through the biological assays, perform quality control assays, and prepare samples for sequencing; handle RNA-seq library preparation, next generation sequencing (NGS), and data analysis in R; record, summarize, and document findings; maintain a detailed and thorough lab notebook; interpret, contextualize, and present findings; and perform other duties as requested. May perform other RNA-seq biological assays with Seq-Well and SmartSeq 2 as examples.

The position offers an opportunity to gain fundamental skills in an interdisciplinary and technologically driven environment with interactions across MIT, the Broad Institute, and the Ragon Institute.

REQUIRED: bachelor’s degree in a field related to biology, immunology, chemistry, and/or genomics; two years’ wet lab bench experience; desire to understand tumor biology and therapy resistance through a single-cell lens; excellent communication, organizational, and critical-thinking skills; ability to work independently and as a team member; attention to detail; self-direction/motivation; and a desire to learn. PREFERRED: knowledge of R and/or other programming languages and coursework experience related to cancer.

Please apply to the position using job #19158 through the MIT jobs portal at http://jobs.mit.edu.

Technical Associate I – Job ID #19025

Position Overview:

To join a group investigating host-virus pathogenesis and the development of rapid antigen diagnostic devices to detect dangerous viruses. Will perform independent laboratory research experiments, including amplifying and validating human viruses and using them to experimentally explore host-pathogen interactions; conduct standard (gel electrophoresis and thermal cycling quantification of nucleic acids using polymerase chain reaction technology) and specialized (handling (amplifying) pathogenic human viruses at a BSL3 containment level while ensuring the safety of all laboratory members) laboratory techniques; collect data from experiments, improve protocols, and analyze data using statistical software; present data analysis at lab meetings; maintain inventories of common laboratory supplies and catalog multiple strains of human viruses; ensure safety standards/procedures are followed, prepare lab for inspections, and correct problems; ensure biohazard waste disposal occurs following policies/procedures; assess equipment needs and schedule maintenance/repairs, including ensuring that equipment in the BSL3 facility is functional and monitoring the liquid Nitrogen storage tank, CO2 tanks, and picopure water system; troubleshoot and make recommendations regarding equipment issues; maintain equipment service contracts/records; research/recommend specialized equipment purchases; and perform other duties as needed.

REQUIRED: bachelor’s degree in a biology-, chemistry-, or bioengineering-related field; at least two years’ experience with basic laboratory techniques, including sterile technique and cell culture; excellent communication, organizational, and critical thinking skills; ability to respond to a rapidly evolving work environment involving concurrent projects and responsibilities and to work independently and as a team member; attention to detail; self-direction; and willingness to learn. PREFERRED: previous virus work and a virology background; and laboratory experience in mammalian cell culture, RT-qPCR, microscopy, and flow cytometry. Job #19025

Please apply to the position using job #18546 through the MIT jobs portal at http://jobs.mit.edu.

Senior Research Support Associate, Lieberman Lab – Job ID #18895

Position Overview: Institute for Medical Eng. and Science (IMES)-Lieberman Lab, to join the Lieberman Lab, an interdisciplinary microbiology research laboratory focused on the human skin microbiome. Will assist with cutting-edge microbiome techniques and participate in multiple projects at the interface of basic and applied research. Will work on projects for screening bacterial strains that inhibit Staphyloccus strains for the treatment of atopic dermatitis and a project on the evolution of skin commensals. Responsibilities include assisting with evaluating research methods, procedures, and techniques based on established objectives; growing microbial cultures and preparing culture-independent and culture-dependent DNA sequencing; extracting genomic DNA and performing quality control on genomic libraries, troubleshooting errors and liaising with sequencing core; documenting results of experiments with detailed laboratory notes; maintaining databases of prepared genomic libraries, laboratory chemicals, and frozen microbiology stocks; using and maintaining in-house sequencers (Nanopore MinION and Illumina iSeq); preparing common stocks of media for general use; maintaining anaerobic chamber and culture and isolating bacteria and phages in anaerobic and aerobic conditions; assisting laboratory members with analysis and interpretation of their results and on research papers on new laboratory methods; attending and participating in lab meetings; and other duties as requested.

REQUIRED: high school diploma or its equivalent, prior exposure to a research lab, working knowledge of general laboratory practices/procedures, ability to work independently and as part of a team, strong communication skills, attention to detail, and ability to troubleshoot experimental obstacles and exhibit good judgment. PREFERRED: bachelor’s degree in microbiology or anaerobic biology; biological laboratory experience, including library preparation for high-throughput sequencing; experience preparing libraries for DNA sequencing; and microbiology experience.

This position will initially be for two years with the possibility of extension based on funding.

Please apply to the position using job#18895 through the MIT jobs portal at h t tp ://jobs.mit.edu.

Research Scientist, Lieberman Lab – Job ID #18907

Position Overview: Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES)-Lieberman Lab, to join the Lieberman Lab and develop in-house genomic pipelines into widely-used community resources, conduct original research, and build systems for data tracking of high-throughput experiments. Will develop new computational tools for microbial genomes and metagenomes; and develop in-house computational pipeline (currently a mix of Snakemake, Python, and MATLAB) for mutation calling into a publishable and well-commented Python-based toolbox, use it to make new biological insights, and write an accompanying manuscript. Subsequent research projects will center on new analyses of metagenomic data. Will also work with principle investigator (PI) to outline important analyses, determine next directions, and document results for publication; work with the PI to develop databases for tracking high-throughput experiments and programming robotic instruments; maintain shared directories, data backup infrastructure, and public code repositories; train new personnel on computing cluster use and computing best practices, including version control and file compression; assist lab members in making their code faster and more readable and addressing queries via Slack; lead local workshops training members of other groups on computational tools; present work at local and non-local conferences; attend and participate in lab meetings; and perform other duties as requested.

REQUIRED: Ph.D. in computer science, biology or related field; thorough understanding of computational biology or data science experience and two years’ experience with genomic data; experience with Python, computing clusters, and GitHub; excellent organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills; detail-orientation; self-direction; and ability to work independently and in a team and to respond to the dynamic needs of the research group; and discretion with confidential information. PREFERRED: experience programming laboratory robots.

This position will initially be for two years with the possibility to extend based upon funding.

Please apply to the position using job#18907 through the MIT jobs portal at h ttp://jobs.mit.edu.

Administrative Assistant 2 – Job ID #19049

Position Overview: To provide a wide range of complex administrative and fiscal support for three professors and their research groups. Will act as liaison between students, staff, DLCs, and external contacts, ensuring inquiries are addressed/resolved according to department policy/procedures; assist with preparing and organizing course materials; work with the IMES finance department and PIs to perform month-end financial review and control functions; monitor/reconcile sponsored research accounting statements for each cost object; investigate and follow up on purchasing/accounting discrepancies; analyze expenditures and/or provide recommendations for adjustments; use MIT’s Buy-2-Pay (B2P) system for processing requisitions/purchase orders; schedule appointments/meetings; coordinate high-level events, including reserving space, scheduling presenters, ordering refreshments, preparing materials, and advertising; prepare complex itineraries for multiple constituents; attend meetings, recording, interpreting, drafting, and distributing minutes; manage complex travel; work with IMES’ human resources to obtain information and submit requests for visiting and postdoctoral appointments; draft appointment letters; assist with orienting and training new students/staff/visitors to the labs; assist with space and office equipment upkeep; maintain records; initiate changes and updates to manuals and procedures for own area; and perform other duties as needed. May approve procurement card transactions.

REQUIRED: high school diploma or its equivalent; at least three years’ secretarial/office/related experience; strong interpersonal, organizational, customer service, and oral and written communication skills; attention to detail; proficiency with MS Office and ability to learn new software; self-motivation; and ability to maintain confidentiality, learn new skills, balance priorities across simultaneous projects, and work independently and as part of a team. PREFERRED: bachelor’s degree; Adobe, Endnote, Stellar, SAP, and web design software experience; and MIT experience.

Please apply to the position using job#19049 through the MIT jobs portal at h ttp://jobs.mit.edu.