LocationUniversity of Pennsylvania - School of Medicine
Open DateOct 09, 2025
https://apply.interfolio.com/175355
DescriptionFaculty Mentor: Samantha Piekos, Ph.D.
Department: Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics
Funding Sources: Grant
Number of Positions: 1
Open to applications from U.S. citizens and foreign nationals.
The Piekos Lab at the University of Pennsylvania invites applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher in Informatics to join a multidisciplinary team investigating the systems biology of pregnancy and maternal-fetal health. The lab integrates multi-omics, clinical, wearable, environmental, social determinants of health, and survey data collected from the first prenatal appointment through delivery. The goal is to characterize the normal physiological development of pregnancy and identify early deviations associated with obstetric syndromes.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Integrate and analyze longitudinal multi-omics datasets (lipidomics, metabolomics, proteomics, transcriptomics) from blood, urine, and placenta with vaginal and gut microbiome, wearable, clinical and environmental data.
- Perform network analyses, including community structure modeling, to characterize physiological changes across pregnancy.
- Identify molecular disruptions in obstetric syndromes (e.g., preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, preterm birth).
- Apply trajectory modeling and outlier detection to identify earliest deviations from healthy pregnancy pathways.
- Collaborate with clinical and experimental teams to generate biologically meaningful insights.
- Develop independence through activities including, but not limited to, writing peer-reviewed publications for research conferences and journals, giving presentations at research conferences, and assisting in grant proposal development.
The position is open until filled. The initial appointment is for two years, with the possibility of extension for a third year based on performance and mutual agreement.
The University of Pennsylvania is an EOE. Minorities/Women/Individuals with disabilities/Protected Veterans are encouraged to apply.
Required Qualifications - Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computer Science, Systems Biology, Statistics, or a related field.
- Demonstrated expertise in data integration, machine learning, or network biology.
- Experience with large-scale omics data analysis.
- Proficiency in R and/or Python programming.
- Strong statistical and modeling skills.
- Excellent communication and writing abilities.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience in multi-omics integration frameworks and dimensionality reduction.
- Familiarity with longitudinal or epidemiological study design.
- Background in systems biology of complex physiological processes.
- Knowledge of AI/ML methods for trajectory prediction and anomaly detection.
- Interest in maternal-fetal health, developmental biology, or reproductive biology.
Application InstructionsReview of applications will begin shortly and will continue until the position is filled.
Applications should be sent through Interforlio using the link below and include:
- Cover Letter
- Curriculum vitae
- Research Statement (2-pages)
- Contact Information for three references
https://apply.interfolio.com/175355
