Research Postdoctoral Fellow - Traumatic Brain Injury - Forti Lab

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A Brief Overview
Under the direction/guidance of a mentor (principal investigator), assumes responsibility for a specific, on-going research project. The experience will serve to extend, refine and enhance skills necessary for professional and career development, and will enable the individual to broaden his/her scientific background by acquiring new research capabilities. It is expected that this individual will conduct independent scholarly research, and will contribute directly to the overall research goals of the project and the research group.

This role will be expected to participate in project planning, recording and interpretation/evaluation of data, and communication of results. This position will also be expected to acquire technical, lab management, and manuscript/grant writing skills; and participate in seminars, lectures, poster sessions and presentations at national meetings. This role also may be required to supervise junior lab members, develop new methods and protocols for research, and assist with the development of other research projects in the lab.

About the Laboratory

Dr. Forti at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Research Institute is recruiting a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to develop and validate next-generation non-invasive optical technologies for monitoring brain physiology after traumatic brain injury (TBI). The position is supported by an NIH R01 focused on developing diffuse optical methods to noninvasively assess cerebral hemodynamics, oxygen metabolism, and tissue water in a translational large-animal model of pediatric TBI.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Forti, and in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team involving biomedical engineers, physicists, and clinicians, the fellow will play a central role in the development and validation of advanced diffuse optical instrumentation and analysis methods. The project integrates frequency-domain diffuse optical spectroscopy and speckle-based measurements of cerebral blood flow with tissue-simulating phantom studies, computational modeling, and extensive in vivo validation in a swine model of TBI.

The fellow will have substantial opportunities to lead scientific projects, develop new instrumentation and analytical methods, publish high-impact research, present at national and international conferences, and contribute to the development of future research proposals.

Key Responsibilities

The postdoctoral fellow, under the direction of the principal investigator, will:

- Develop, characterize, and validate next-generation diffuse optical instrumentation for non-invasive brain monitoring.
- Develop and evaluate measurement and analysis approaches to reduce extracerebral scalp and skull contamination of cerebral optical signals.
- Design and perform optical phantom experiments for instrument characterization, calibration, and validation.
- Develop, implement, and maintain signal-processing and quantitative analysis pipelines for multimodal optical data.
- Participate in in vivo optical measurements in a high-fidelity swine model of TBI
- Integrate optical measurements with physiologic monitoring, MRI, and other reference measurements used for technology validation.
- Analyze multimodal physiologic datasets and contribute to statistical interpretation of study results.
- Work closely with research technicians, students, engineers, and clinical and preclinical collaborators.
- Communicate results through peer-reviewed manuscripts, conference presentations, progress reports, and other scientific deliverables.
- Contribute to grant proposals and the development of new research directions within the laboratory.
- Participate in seminars, laboratory meetings, and scientific and professional-development activities as part of a structured mentored training program.

Preferred Experience and Skills

Candidates with experience in one or more of the following areas are especially encouraged to apply:

- Biomedical optics, including diffuse optical spectroscopy, diffuse correlation spectroscopy, speckle contrast optical spectroscopy, near-infrared spectroscopy, or related techniques.
- Optical or electronic instrumentation development and experimental characterization.
- Physiologic signal processing and time-series analysis.
- Optical phantom development and validation.
- Monte Carlo or other computational modeling of light transport in biological tissue.
- Programming and scientific computing in Python, MATLAB, C/C++, or related environments.
- Preclinical or large-animal research.
- Multimodal physiologic monitoring and analysis.
- Neurophysiology, traumatic brain injury, or cerebral hemodynamics and metabolism.

Previous experience in every area is not required. Candidates with strong backgrounds in experimental biomedical engineering, physics, or optical instrumentation who are interested in developing expertise in translational neurotechnology are encouraged to apply.

What you will do

- Conduct independent scholarly research and develop new methods and protocols
- Participate in project planning, recording and evaluation of data
- Acquire technical, lab management and grant writing skills
- Participate in seminars, lectures, poster sessions and presentation at national meetings
- Supervise junior lab members
- Assist with other research projects

Education Qualifications

- Doctorate Required

Skills and Abilities

- Ability to wear a respirator device

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SALARY RANGE:

$20,800.00 - $110,400.00 Annually

Salary ranges are shown for full-time jobs. If you're working part-time, your pay will be adjusted accordingly.

If you are applying for a Research Post-Doctoral Fellow role, please refer to this link for salary guidelines (copy & paste into your browser): https://www.research.chop.edu/services/hiring-a-postdoctoral-fellow#collapse-accordion-3523-3
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