Postdoctoral Associate - Cardiovascular Disease Initiative in Cambridge

The laboratory of Dr. Zhi Yu at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is seeking a highly qualified Postdoctoral Associate with expertise in causal inference and an interest in integrating human genomics and proteomics to identify and validate therapeutic targets for cardiovascular diseases. This position sits at the intersection of human genetics, proteomics, epidemiology, and drug discovery. The successful candidate will develop and apply advanced causal inference methods to large-scale human genetic and proteomic datasets. The overarching goal is to move beyond association to causation by identifying and de-risking druggable protein targets, assessing predicted efficacy and on-target safety, and prioritising candidates for downstream therapeutic development.

The selected candidate will be appointed as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Broad Institute and will have opportunities to collaborate across MGH, Harvard Medical School, epidemiological cohorts, hospital-based biobanks, and industry partners. They will join an interdisciplinary team of computational biologists, statistical geneticists, physicians, students, translational researchers, and industry scientists.

Characteristic Duties

• Develop and apply causal inference methods to investigate relationships among genetic variation, circulating proteins, and cardiovascular disease outcomes.
• Conduct Mendelian randomization, colocalization, instrumental variable, and negative control analyses.
• Integrate high-throughput proteomic data, including SomaScan and Olink datasets, with large-scale human genetic data.
• Analyze genomic data generated through genome-wide arrays, whole-exome sequencing, and whole-genome sequencing.
• Work with data from diverse epidemiological cohorts and hospital-based biobanks.
• Identify and prioritise potentially druggable protein targets for cardiovascular diseases.
• Evaluate the predicted efficacy and on-target safety of therapeutic targets through phenome-wide analyses.
• Develop reproducible computational workflows for large-scale genetic and proteomic analyses.
• Interpret complex genomic, proteomic, and clinical findings in the context of disease biology and therapeutic development.
• Collaborate with cohort principal investigators, translational researchers, physicians, computational scientists, and industry partners.
• Present research findings at internal meetings, scientific conferences, and collaborative forums.
• Prepare manuscripts, abstracts, presentations, and other scientific communications.
• Contribute to grant applications and the development of future research initiatives.
• Mentor students or junior team members, as appropriate.
• Remain current with emerging causal inference, statistical genetics, proteomics, and drug-target validation methods.

Required Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent doctoral degree in statistical genetics, genetic epidemiology, biostatistics, computational biology, bioinformatics, epidemiology, statistics, or a closely related field with 0-2+ years of experience.
• Demonstrated experience applying causal inference methods to biomedical or population-based data.
• Experience with one or more relevant methods, such as Mendelian randomization, colocalization, instrumental variable analysis, and negative control frameworks.
• Experience analyzing large-scale human genetic or genomic datasets.
• Strong quantitative, statistical, and computational skills.
• Proficiency in a scientific programming language such as R or Python.
• Ability to develop accurate, reproducible, and well-documented analytical workflows.
• Strong scientific writing, presentation, and communication skills.
• Ability to interpret complex results and communicate findings to interdisciplinary audiences.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary research environment.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience integrating genomic and proteomic datasets.
• Experience working with SomaScan, Olink, or comparable high-throughput proteomic platforms.
• Familiarity with genome-wide association studies and data generated from genotyping arrays, whole-exome sequencing, or whole-genome sequencing.
• Experience working with large epidemiological cohorts, electronic health record data, or hospital-based biobanks.
• Experience performing phenome-wide association or safety analyses.
• Familiarity with cardiovascular genetics, cardiovascular epidemiology, or cardiovascular disease biology.
• Knowledge of therapeutic target identification, validation, or drug-development processes.
• Experience using high-performance computing or cloud-based analytical environments.
• A record of peer-reviewed publications demonstrating expertise in a relevant quantitative or biomedical research area.
• Experience collaborating with clinical, translational, or industry research partners.

The expected base pay range for this position is based on a 40 hour per week schedule. Broad provides pay ranges representing its reasonable and good faith estimate of what the organization reasonably expects to pay for a position at the time of posting. Actual compensation will vary based on factors including but not limited to, relevant skills, experience, education, qualifications, and other factors permissible by law. At Broad, your base pay is just one part of a comprehensive total rewards package. From day one, this role offers a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance; a 401(k) retirement plan; flexible spending and health savings accounts; at least 13 paid holidays; winter closure; paid time off; parental and family care leave; and an employee assistance program, among other Broad benefits.

The Broad Institute is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations. Should you need a reasonable accommodation to complete the application or interview process, please contact recruiting@broadinstitute.org for assistance.