FDA Postdoctoral Research Opportunity in Stem Cell Therapy

A complete application consists of:      

• An application
• Transcripts – Click here for detailed information about acceptable transcripts
• A current resume/CV, including academic history, employment history, relevant experiences, and publication list
• One educational or professional recommendation

All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.

If you have questions, send an email to ORISE.FDA.CBER@orau.org. Please include the reference code for this opportunity in your email.

*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.

A research opportunity is currently available with the Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies (OTAT), at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Our research is focused on studying the immunosuppression activity of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) used in cell therapy. Currently there is much interest in assessing the immune suppression activity of MSCs and the mechanism by which MSCs mediate this capacity. The training will include learning experimental approaches to produce MSCs under different conditions and aimed to optimize production of cell preparations with high immunosuppressive activity. The participant will also learn how to purify and evaluation different preparations of extracellular vesicles (EVs). Under the guidance of a mentor, the participant will learn techniques including immunological assays and computational prediction of MSC immunosuppressive activity. These techniques will be adopted to analyzing immunosuppressive activity of EVs as well as the MSCs that produce them.

This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and FDA. The initial appointment is for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of FDA contingent on the availability of funds. The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. The appointment is full-time at FDA in the Silver Spring, Maryland, area. Participants do not become employees of FDA, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits.

Completion of a successful background investigation by the Office of Personnel Management is required for an applicant to be on-boarded at FDA.  OPM can complete a background investigation only for individuals, including non-US Citizens, who have resided in the US for a total of three of the past five years.

FDA requires ORISE participants to read and sign their FDA Education and Training Agreement within 30 days of his/her start date, setting forth the conditions and expectations for his/her educational appointment at the agency.  This agreement covers such topics as the following:

• Non-employee nature of the ORISE appointment;
• Prohibition on ORISE Fellows performing inherently governmental functions;
• Obligation of ORISE Fellows to convey all necessary rights to the FDA regarding intellectual property conceived or first reduced to practice during their fellowship;
• The fact that research materials and laboratory notebooks are the property of the FDA;
• ORISE fellow’s obligation to protect and not to further disclose or use non-public information.

The qualified candidate should have received a doctoral degree in one of the relevant fields, or be currently pursuing the degree and will reach completion by May 2020. Degree must have been received within five years of the appointment start date.

Preferred skills:

• Experience in the purification and characterization of proteins in mammalian systems
• Basic recombinant DNA techniques
• Excellent tissue culture techniques
• Experience with computational HLA binding, structural biology and protein design
• Immunological assays including flow cytometry, measuring T-cell mediated immune responses, ELISpot and ELISA
• Willingness to learn new technologies and methods

• Degree: Doctoral Degree received within the last 60 months or anticipated to be received by 5/31/2020 11:59:00 PM.
• Discipline(s):
  • Engineering (1 )
  • Life Health and Medical Sciences (8 )