Postdoctoral Researcher

About This Role

Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU; www.mbru.ac.ae) is part of Dubai Health, the first integrated academic health system in the UAE. Dubai Health seeks to strengthen Dubai as a global leader in health care, medical education, research, and scientific innovation, to enhance the capabilities of Dubai’s healthcare sector. Dubai Health is managing and operating 54 sites, including 6 government hospitals, 26 ambulatory health centers, 20 medical fitness centers, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU), and Al Jalila Foundation.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will lead computational research supporting therapeutic development programs, with a focus on antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), RNA biology, and functional genomics.

The role involves multi-omics data analysis, integration of transcriptomic and genomic datasets, and development of computational pipelines to support target discovery, validation, and translational research initiatives.

Strategic Responsibilities:

• Contribute to building machine learning models and computational strategy for therapeutic and functional genomics programs
• Build deep neural network-based models to ssupport data-driven decision making for target prioritization and validation
• Collaborate with wet lab teams to integrate experimental and computational workflows
• Identify and implement advanced bioinformatics tools and pipelines

Core Responsibilities:

• Building machine learning models using multi-omics data for neuro-oncology projects
• Analyze RNA-seq, long-read sequencing (PacBio), and other omics datasets
• Develop and maintain bioinformatics pipelines for transcriptomics and genomics
• Perform differential expression, pathway analysis, and functional annotation
• Integrate multi-omics datasets (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics where applicable)
• Support ASO target identification and validation through data-driven approaches
• Collaborate with lab scientists to interpret experimental results
• Maintain reproducible workflows (R/Python, workflow managers)
• Contribute to publications, grants, and scientific outputs
• Present findings internally and at scientific meetings
• Participate in teaching and education-related activities within the College of Medicine, MBRU.

Community Service

• Seeks and develops relationship with suitable external partners in order to raise the profile of the College and the University.
• Provides opportunities for assisting professional colleagues to maintain and enhance their skills by offering Continuing Professional development in their specialty.

Self-Management Responsibilities:

• Defines performance goals at the start of the year in discussion with the reporting manager and ensures that the goals are monitored and achieved during the year.
• Takes ownership of his/her own learning agenda by identifying development needs in consultation with the reporting manager and working towards bridging the gaps through various means which go beyond just training.
• Understands the competencies relevant to his/her role and works towards displaying as well as developing these effectively.
• Keeps abreast of relevant professional/industry developments, new techniques and current issues through continued education and professional networks.

Minimum Qualifications:

• PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics, or related field
• Strong experience in RNA-seq and transcriptomic data analysis
• Proficiency in R and/or Python
• Experience with NGS data analysis pipelines
• Ability to work independently and design computational workflows

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with long-read sequencing (PacBio, Iso-Seq)
• Exposure to therapeutics, RNA biology, or functional genomics
• Familiarity with multi-omics integration
• Experience working with clinical or translational datasets
• Publication record in relevant field
• Written and spoken English is essential, Arabic is preferred

Years of Experience:

PhD in machine learning or artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, computational biology, genomics, or related field or a related field from an accredited institute/college/university.

Minimum 1 – 2 years of relevant post-doctoral experience.