Position Summary

The Pottier Laboratory at WashU Medicine is excited to announce an opening for a Postdoctoral Research Associate. The overarching goal of the laboratory is to identify disease associated events that may serve as both therapeutic targets and biomarkers for early onset dementia such as early onset Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. Our research leverages comprehensive genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses within highly characterized and unique cohorts. We are looking for a postdoctoral fellow that will lead projects that involve genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics. The successful candidate will leverage unique population cohorts and innovative approaches to discover pathways related to disease presentation.

The Pottier Laboratory is part of the NeuroGenomics and Informatics Center at WashU. We are dedicated to generating and analyzing whole-genome sequencing data along with high-throughput, multi-dimensional 'omics' data to advance our understanding of neurodegeneration. WashU Medicine is renowned for its research cohorts of neurodegenerative disorders, which include clinical, neuropathology, neuroimaging, and fluid biomarker phenotypes.

Recent publications on the subject:

• Pottier et al., “Deciphering Distinct Genetic Risk Factors for FTLD-TDP Pathological Subtypes via Whole-Genome Sequencing”, Nature Communications, 2025.
• Patel et al., “Whole genome sequencing reveals the impact of lipid pathway and APOE genotype on brain amyloidosis”, Hum Mol Gen, 2025.
• Bradley et al., “Proficiency in conducting association studies and/or single nuclei RNA sequencing analyses.”, Alzheimer’s and Dementia, 2025.
• Kouri et al., “Clinicopathologic Heterogeneity and Glial Activation Patterns in Alzheimer Disease”, JAMA Neurol, 2024.
• Pottier et al., “Shared brain transcriptomic signature in TDP-43 type A FTLD patients with or without GRN mutations”, Brain, 2022.

Job Description

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

Information on being a postdoc at Washington University in St. Louis can be found at https://postdoc.wustl.edu/prospective-postdocs-2/.

Trains under the supervision of a faculty mentor including (but not limited to):

• Assists with grant preparation and reporting.
• Prepares and submits papers on research.
• Assists in the design of research experiments.
• Evaluates research findings and assists in the reporting of the results.
• Conscientious discharge of their research responsibilities.
• Maintains conformity with ethical standards in research.
• Maintains compliance with good laboratory practice including the maintenance of adequate research records.
• Engages in open and timely discussion with their mentor regarding possession or distribution of material, reagents, or records belonging to their laboratory and any proposed disclosure of findings or techniques privately or in publications.
• Collegial conduct towards co-trainees, staff members and members of the research group.
• Adherence to all applicable University policies, procedures and regulations. All data, research records and materials and other intellectual property generated in University laboratories remain the property of the University.

Working Conditions:

This position works in a laboratory environment with potential exposure to biological and chemical hazards. The individual must be physically able to wear protective equipment and to provide standard care to research animals.

Salary Range:

Base pay is commensurate with experience.

Required Qualifications

Education:

Ph.D., M.D. Or Equivalent Terminal Or Doctoral Degree.

Certifications:

No specific certification is required for this position.

Work Experience:

No specific work experience is required for this position.

Preferred Qualifications

• A PhD in Genetics, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Data Science, Statistical Genomics, or a related discipline involving the interrogation of ‘omics’ datasets, or expected to obtain a degree in the near future.
• Solid skills in at least one programming language (R, python, or Perl) and experience working in Linux and/or high-performance cluster environments.
• A strong ability to perform analytical reasoning to extract biological insights from data-driven approaches.
• Familiarity with interrogation of publicly available resources (highly beneficial).
• Familiarity with genetics of neurodegenerative disorders.
• Practical experience with PLINK, SKAT, Seurat, or similar gene-based association tools.
• Proficiency in conducting association studies and/or single nuclei RNA sequencing analyses.