Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Genetics & Pharmacogenomics

Merck & Co., Inc.

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Merck is a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines and consumer health products, as well as animal health products. Today, we are building a new kind of healthcare company – one that is ready to help create a healthier future for all of us.

Our ability to excel depends on the integrity, knowledge, imagination, skill, diversity and teamwork of people like you. To this end, we strive to create an environment of mutual respect, encouragement and teamwork. As part of our global team, you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with talented and dedicated colleagues while developing and expanding your career.

Be a part of the legacy: MRL Postdoctoral Research Fellow Program.

The Merck Research Laboratories (MRL) Postdoctoral Research Fellow Program aims to be a best-in-industry program for industrial postdoctoral researchers, designed to provide you with an academic focus in a commercial environment. With the resources, reach, and expertise of a large pharmaceutical company, postdoctoral researchers will be positioned to excel in an institution committed to breakthrough innovation in research and discovery.

Position Overview:

The Genetics team within the newly formed Genetics and Pharmacogenomics (GpGx) department at MRL is currently seeking a postdoctoral fellow for an exciting collaboration with Harvard Medical School to better understand how the non protein-coding genome impacts human health and disease. The ideal candidate should have a deep understanding of human genetics, preferably with a background in statistical and population genetics, bioinformatics, and/or computational genomics.

GpGx is tasked with identifying novel drug targets with strong genetic support (see, for example PMID 23868113). To this end, the department is generating whole genome sequence (WGS) data from highly prioritized families segregating rare, apparently Mendelian forms of common, complex disease, as well as from populations. While a large body of work exists on how to interpret the functional consequences of protein coding variants (see PMID: 11337480; 20354512), little is known about how non-coding variants contribute to human health and disease. To further understand the impact of non-coding variation, the postdoctoral fellow will generate, optimize, and apply computational tools to assess whether variants identified through WES, WGS, and SNP typing are likely to be disease-relevant or not. The goal of this work is the discovery and validation of promising genetic targets that will enter the drug discovery pipeline within Early Development and Discovery Sciences (EDDS) of Merck & Co.

Patients and families for WGS will be identified through the Personal Genomics Counseling Service (PGCS) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. PGCS treats a large number of patients with extremely rare diseases, including patients from consanguineous families. As a postdoc in GpGx, you will collaborate closely with PGCS and Dr. Shamil Sunyaev at Harvard Medical School (HMS), which is across the street from MRL. You will be an active member of both the Sunyaev lab and GpGx, attending lab meetings at both places and receiving mentorship from Dr. Sunyaev, as well as GpGx scientists. You will be uniquely positioned to take advantage of the research, educational, and social opportunities at both HMS and MRL. This position represents a true collaboration between academia and industry.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Working with clinicians at BWH Personal Genomics Counseling Service to select patients and families for WGS.
• Analyzing WGS data from selected patients and family members.
• Collaborating with HMS faculty and MRL scientists to optimize existing tools for prioritization of coding and non-coding variants from WGS data.
• Developing new computational tools, as needed.
• Identifying and prioritizing coding and non-coding sequence variants that have the highest probability of being pathogenic.
• Working with MRL scientists to design wet lab experiments to sort out and validate genetic findings.

Education Minimum Requirement:

• PhD or MD/PhD in Human Genetics, Population Genetics, Computational Genomics, Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, or a related field

Required Experience and Skills:

• PhD, or met all the requirements for a PhD by June 2015, with 3 years or less postdoctoral experience
• Understanding of human genetic sequence variation and/or population genetics;
• Strong bioinformatics and statistical skills, including programming skills (using e.g. R, Matlab, or Perl/Python) and the ability to query databases;
• Experience in the design and bioinformatics analysis of large-scale genetic datasets, preferably next-generation sequencing data;
• Strong communication, collaboration, and leadership skills, including the ability to communicate complex data analysis results in a clear, concise manner to biologists, clinicians, and senior management.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Experience in interpreting whole genome data (GWAS, WES, or WGS), including concepts related to population genetics (e.g., linkage disequilibrium, genetic architecture of human disease) and functional annotation of human genetic variation (e.g., coding and non-coding variants);
• History of publication in high impact, peer-reviewed journals

Our employees are the key to our company’s success. We demonstrate our commitment to our employees by offering a competitive and valuable rewards program. Merck’s benefits are designed to support the wide range of goals, needs and lifestyles of our employees, and many of the people that matter the most in their lives.

Merck is an equal opportunity employer, M/F/D/V – proudly embracing diversity in all of its manifestations. Former Military, Transitioning Service Members, National Guard & Reserves - We value your past and present service.

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