11 Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of British Columbia, Canada

 RNA medicines have gained considerable momentum in the past few years with the approval of Onpattro and the COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. Recently, it has been shown that mRNA can be transported between cells by extracellular vesicles (EVs). We aim to engineer self-amplifying RNA constructs that generate EVs to carry cargo RNA to specific cells and tissues. The PDF will work with our interdisciplinary team to design and synthesize RNA constructs, then test them in vitro and in vivo for EV production, RNA delivery and targeting in preclinical models. We anticipate that this technology will be a clinically translatable delivery system for RNA therapeutics.

Climate change is significantly impacting tundra ecosystems, and one of the critical consequences is the shift in plant phenology – the timing of key life events such as growth and reproduction. In Arctic and alpine tundra, phenological events are highly temperature-sensitive, and changes in the timing of spring green-up, as well as the length of growing seasons, can lead to altered plant composition and, consequently, affect wildlife habitats. In particular, warming temperatures could result in the increase of shrub species and changes in the timing of plant resources available to wildlife with implications across Arctic food webs.

The Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) project in global change ecology of northern ecosystems seeks to investigate how warming temperatures and shifting seasonal patterns affect Arctic tundra, alpine, and boreal forest ecosystems. This research will explore plant growth and flowering dynamics, including phenological change above and below ground and the implications of these shifts in the timing of plant growth across the tundra biome. Additionally, this research will assess the collective impacts of these changes on Indigenous communities’ livelihoods in the Western Canadian Arctic.

As part of the ERC-Synergy project Pathways of Resilience and Evasion of Tipping in Ecosystems (RESILIENCE), we are offering a postdoctoral position for a self-motivated candidate that will focus on studying spatial patterns within tundra ecosystems and their role in conferring resilience across the biome. By integrating satellite imagery, aerial photographs, drone data, and in-situ measurements from key research sites across the circumpolar Arctic, the candidate will quantify the extent and variability of spatial patterning in tundra ecosystems, including regions at the treeline. This research will be occurring in ice-rich permafrost ecosystems, investigating how spatial patterns interact with permafrost dynamics and respond to global change pressures. Understanding the impacts of permafrost thaw beyond ecological tipping points is critical for predicting landscape change and resilience.

This research will test the hypothesis that certain spatial patterning can confer resilience to ecological change, using approaches previously applied in savanna and dryland ecosystems. By examining these patterns, we aim to enhance our understanding of tundra ecosystem resilience and predict rates of landscape and ecological change in response to global shifts across the tundra biome. Collaboration with other PhD students, postdocs, and senior researchers from the involved universities will allow us to integrate mathematical and physical models of the data to address the larger project goals.

The PRIME (Perceptive Reasoning and Intelligent MachinEry) Robotics Lab conducts cutting-edge robotics research at the intersection of robotics, perception, and artificial intelligence. Our vision is to develop innovative robotic systems that can interact with and adapt to their environment in a seamless and intelligent manner. We aim to push the boundaries of what is possible in robotics, enabling robots to operate effectively in complex and dynamic environments. Our research goal is to design, develop, and deploy advanced robotic systems that can perceive, reason, and act intelligently in real-world settings. Our focus areas include: hybrid soft-rigid robotics, swarm and modular robotics, dexterous manipulation and grasping, multimodal perception and reasoning, and motion planning in high-dimensional space. M

This project will involve the use of several novel sequencing technologies, specifically, long-read sequencing, short-read sequencing, and single-cell sequencing. Long-read sequencing generates sequencing reads averaging tens of thousands base pairs, enabling better mapping and resolution of complex structural variations and repetitive regions, with the added benefit of including all base modifications including DNA methylation. Single-cell sequencing uncovers cellular heterogeneity by profiling the individual cells, revealing insights into cancer heterogeneity and cell populations. Short-read sequencing provides accurate, high throughput data, ideal for identifying single nucleotide variants, expression profiling, and performing bulk analyses. Together, these technologies can be used to better resolve the complexities of cancer genomes: long-read sequencing informs large structural changes and epigenetic information, short-read sequencing ensures depth and variant accuracy, and single-cell sequencing deciphers cell-specific interactions, collectively transforming our understanding of the disease.

A two-year postdoctoral research position is available starting April 1, 2025 in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia under the co-supervision of Drs. Simone D. Castellarin and Thorsten Knipfer, and will be affiliated to the Applied Biology program. The Faculty of Land and Food System is located in the vibrant and beautiful city of Vancouver (BC, Canada). The expected salary range is $60,000 – $65,000 CAD.

The postdoctoral fellow will make a vital contribution to the funded project entitled: PRIMA – Precision irrigation management for sustainable blueberry production. The project aims to develop irrigation practices that allow water savings, reduce GHG emissions, and maximize fruit yield and quality by utilizing state-of-the art sensor technology. The project will be led by a team of experts in horticulture (Dr. Simone D. Castellarin), plant water relations (Dr. Thorsten Knipfer), and soil science (Dr. Sean Smukler) at UBC, and allow new collaborations with the BC blueberry growers.

Specific research activities include i) monitoring of climate and plant evapotranspiration on field sites, ii) integrating atmospheric monitoring with soil physical properties, iii) collecting plant physiological measurements to ground truth remote sensing data, iv) developing and managing field irrigation treatments, v) conducting assessments of yield and berry quality; vi) coordinating field experiments with blueberry growers and other scientists involved in the project; and vii) disseminating results and knowledge generated to the academic and growers community.

Dr. Wong leads the Faculty’s Molecular and Systems Pharmacology Research and Training Program, with cross-appointments to UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Medical Genetics, and to the BC Cancer’s Department of Experimental Therapeutics. Research in the Wong Laboratory focuses on the different mechanisms responsible for the gross structural maintenance of the genome, including the roles of telomeres and telomerase in preventing chromosome erosion, and their interactions with cellular pathways that respond to DNA damage. The laboratory also has a separate line of investigation on G-quadruplex in the genome and the transcriptome, with parallel studies on the biological effects and the therapeutic utilities of G-quadruplex stabilization in human disease models.

ICORD, in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver Campus, is seeking two postdoctoral research fellows to join an established group of scientists and clinicians in the laboratory of Dr. Andrei Krassioukov for a two-year term (with possibility of extension), starting immediately.

ICORD is a world leading health research centre focused on spinal cord injury. From the lab-based cellular level of understanding injury to rehabilitation and recovery, our researchers are dedicated to developing new treatments, strategies and cures from the time of trauma to post-injury recovery. Dr. Krassioukov’s basic and clinical research has been focused on autonomic dysfunctions following spinal cord injury (SCI) for more than 20 years. He has developed a multi-disciplinary laboratory that is internationally recognized for expertise in autonomic research.

Two positions are open for postdoctoral fellows with expertise in human/clinical or experimental research in cardiovascular and autonomic (i.e., bowel, bladder, sexual and cardiovascular) dysfunctions following SCI. Candidates should have a MD, MD/PhD, or PhD in neuroscience, neurophysiology, kinesiology, or cardiovascular and vascular biology. Interested candidates must be self-motivated and have at least two first-authored papers in peer-reviewed journals. Experience with spinal cord/peripheral nerve stimulation and autonomic testing is an asset.

A postdoc fellowship position is available in Dr. Xuesen Dong’s lab (http://donglab.ca). Our research focuses on the mechanisms of therapy-resistant prostate cancers and the development of therapeutics to manage the disease (representative publications PMID: 32634132, 30910347, 27180064, 31819165). Ongoing projects include

1. deciphering cancer stem cell signal pathways to regulate neuroendocrine prostate cancers and
2. alternative RNA to regulate therapy-resistant prostate cancer progression.
3. drug development targeting Lin28 and TOP2

We are looking for multiple candidates to expand the existing projects to understand how Lin28 regulates stem cell networks to counteract therapy-induced stress and apply computer-aided drug design to develop Lin28 inhibitors. Candidates with animal handling, lentiviral manipulations, or ChIP-seq backgrounds are welcome.