01 Project description

The laboratory of Dr. Peijun Ma at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is recruiting a motivated postdoc researcher and a graduate student with full scholarship support. Our research program uses the innovative bacterial single-cell genomics and transcriptomics to study antibiotic resistance and persistence in bacterial pathogens. Past work has focused on developing bacterial single-cell RNA sequencing technology (Ma et al., Cell, 2023; DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.01.002) and understanding the evolution of antibiotic resistance in gram-negative bacterial pathogens (Ma et al., eLife, 2021; https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.67310).

The emergence of antibiotic resistance and persistence has become one of the biggest challenges for human health. One of the major issues in our current effort to combat antibiotic resistance and persistence is that we are mostly characterizing bacteria as whole populations; however, resistant and persistent clones usually emerge from single-cell events. The heterogeneity in bacterial populations has not been well characterized, and mechanisms leading to this heterogeneity are unclear. To address this problem, the Ma lab will apply innovative bacterial single-cell RNA sequencing technology to characterize bacterial drug-induced heterogeneity at single-cell levels. In addition, we will characterize the microbiome using bacterial single-cell genomics and transcriptomics to understand the evolution of antibiotic resistance and persistence in the context of the host microenvironment, especially in pediatric patients with recurrent bacterial infections. We believe this work will provide novel and exciting insight regarding bacterial heterogeneity and will lead to the identification of drug targets to treat bacterial infections associated with antibiotic resistance and persistence.

Specific areas of interest in the Ma lab include:

• Understanding the drug-induced bacterial heterogeneity and its impact on the development of drug persistence in bacterial pathogens.

• Investigating the impact of bacterial intrinsic heterogeneity, e.g., the cell cycle and bacterial cell-to-cell communication, on the development of drug resistance and persistence.

• Characterizing the microbiome using bacterial single-cell genomics and transcriptomics.

• Developing innovative sequencing technology to study bacterial heterogeneity at the single-cell level and genome-wide scale.

02 Preferred expertise and experience

We are seeking highly motivated postdoctoral researchers and graduate students to build and explore the emerging field of microbial single-cell genomics. Candidates are expected to have a background in molecular biology, microbiology, microbiome research, or other related fields. Experience with next-generation sequencing and computational skills will be preferred but not required.

03 About Hospital

The mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to advance cures and means of prevention for pediatric catastrophic diseases. Although the childhood cancer has been the major focus of St. Jude since its inception, St. Jude has also developed world-class research programs in non-malignant hematological diseases and infectious diseases. In the next five years, St. Jude will increase investment in infectious diseases and expand research facilities in this area. With the institution’s ongoing work and future investment, St. Jude will build one of the leading pediatric infectious disease research programs in the world.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital houses a number of “state-of-the-art” core facilities, including: Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (service and instrument for Illumina sequencing, PacBio sequencing, and Sanger sequencing); Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics (provides an array of proteomics and metabolomics services); Protein Production Core; Cell and Tissue Imaging Center (fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, single molecule localization microscopy); Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Shared Resource (services and instruments for cell analyzer and sorting); High Performance Computing Facility.

04 What you can expect

•Working closely with the PI to build and explore the emerging field of single-cell microbiology.

•Opportunity to learn both dry- and wet-lab skills for next-generation and third-generation sequencing technology, and skills to develop innovative sequencing technologies.

•Outstanding salary and employee benefit.

05 How to apply

Please send your cover letter, CV and contact information of three references to:

peijun.ma@stjude.org