Postdoctoral Scholar studying astrogliosis and developing immunotherapies for Alzheimer's disease

Postdoctoral Scholar studying astrogliosis and developing immunotherapies for Alzheimer's disease

The laboratory of Dr. Gilbert Gallardo at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is recruiting postdoctoral fellows to study neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to develop novel immunotherapies.  These opportunities are funded by the NIH and foundation grants.  We are particularly interested in studying astrocytes as several studies, including our own, are demonstrating that reactive astrocytes are a critical component of neurodegeneration (Sci Transl Med. 2022 Feb 16;14(632), Nature.  2017 Sep 28;549(7673):523-527, Nature Neuroscience.  2014 Dec;17(12):1710-9,).  Our studies aim at 1) determining the extent to which mitigating reactive astrocytes are neuroprotective, 2) identifying the cellular mechanism that regulates astrocytic reactivity, and 3) identifying toxic neuroinflammatory molecules for the potential of therapeutic intervention of AD.

We also aim to develop immunotherapeutic approaches targeting the pathological protein tau and for neutralizing neuroinflammation in AD and related tauopathies.  Our studies have provided compelling evidence that pathological tau is an immunotherapeutic target (J Exp Med. 2017 May 1;214(5):1227-1238, Mol. Neurodegener. 2019 Oct 22;14(1):38).  The emergence of tau as an immunotherapeutic target raises several fundamental questions: Can we engineer immunotherapies optimized for tau depletion and is a combination of immunotherapy with gene therapy a feasible approach for long-term treatment.  In addition, our studies have highlighted that reactive astrocytes contribute to neurodegeneration, suggesting that suppressing their reactivity may be beneficial in reducing neuroinflammation in AD.  We generate single-chain fragment variables (scFVs) that serve as molecular tools for engineering immunotherapeutics optimized for tau depletion or for neutralizing inflammation to address these aims.

Candidates must hold or about to complete a Ph.D. or M.D. and should have a strong background in molecular/cellular biology.  A track record of productivity with peer-reviewed publications, excellent organizational skills, fluent English, and less than two years of postdoctoral experience is required. Qualified applicants are invited to submit a letter of application and their curriculum vitae, including three references' names and contact details to gallardog@neuro.wustl.edu

Washington University is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status.