Analysis Skills, Bioinformatics, Blood Pressure, CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing), Cardiovascular Disease, Cell Analysis, Cell Cultures, Conferences, Data Sets, Experiment Design, Genetics, Genomics, Grant Writing, Mentoring, Molecular Medicine, Presentation/Verbal Skills, Quality Control, Statistics, Wireless Protocols/Standards
The laboratory combines human endothelial cell culture and perturbation systems with genomic discovery tools to dissect how genetic variation at CAD-associated loci operates through the vessel wall.
Active research areas include:
- eQTL and splicing QTL (sQTL) mapping in human aortic and microvascular endothelial cells under physiological flow conditions.
- Single-cell RNA sequencing and chromatin accessibility profiling across genetically diverse donor populations.
- Colocalization of endothelial molecular QTLs with GWAS signals for CAD, blood pressure, and related vascular traits.
- Integration with population-scale biobanks including UK Biobank, MVP, and All of Us.
- Functional characterization of candidate effector genes emerging from colocalization, including surface proteins and splicing regulators operating through the hemodynamic flow-regulated transcriptional program.
Primary Job Duties Include:
- Design and execute experiments using primary human endothelial cells hemodynamic shear stress conditions.
- Prepare and QC sequencing libraries including bulk RNA-seq, small RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and single-cell libraries.
- Perform genome-scale quantiative trait locus (QTL) mapping analyses and genetic colocalization with genome wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics.
- Analyze single-cell and bulk genomics datasets using standard and custom bioinformatics pipelines.
- Contribute to grant writing, manuscript preparation, and presentations at national conferences.
- Mentor and support graduate students and other members of the laboratory.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
- Ability operating shear stress devices (cone-and-plate and parallel-plate systems) in a laboratory setting.
- Proficiency in sequencing library preparation, including bulk RNA-seq, small RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and single-cell sequencing protocols (10x Genomics and sci-RNA-seq3).
- Knowledge of genetic colocalization methods using GWAS and molecular QTL summary statistics.
- Working knowledge of large-scale biobank resources, particularly the All of Us Research Program and phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) frameworks.
- Biological knowledge of vascular cell types, endothelial function, and the pathobiology of atherosclerosis.