Opportunities

Graduate Student (M.Sc. & Ph.D.), Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, and Clinical Fellow candidates

Successful candidates will join the laboratory of Dr. Bruce Carleton and the multi-centre research team of the Canadian Pharmacogenomics Network for Drug Safety (CPNDS). 

We are seeking scientists to lead research projects with a specific focus on the genetic determinants of severe adverse drug and vaccine reactions. Potential projects focus on severe ADRs to a range of different medications. Current priority ADRs include cisplatin-induced ototoxicity, anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity, COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis and vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia. The successful candidate would be expected to have a strong foundation in genetics and/or genomics. Experience in pharmacology, bioinformatics, or data analysis is highly desirable and would be considered a valuable asset. Additional skills that would strengthen a candidate’s application include: experience with whole-genome or exome sequencing pipelines, proficiency in genomic association analyses, particularly involving large-scale datasets, and familiarity with cloud computing and/or high-performance computing (HPC) environments for bioinformatics workflows. The successful candidate must exhibit excellent communication skills and a demonstrated potential for excellence in research productivity. The successful candidate will seek to share their research findings through publications, presentations, and other knowledge transfer activities. They will collaborate with various parties including internal and external researchers, stakeholders and national and international bodies. In addition, the successful candidate should demonstrate some experience in writing or assisting with the writing of grant applications.

CPNDS is an energetic, international multidisciplinary consortium of researchers and clinicians from hospitals and universities that was established to improve drug safety. CPNDS has catalyzed national and international collaborations and established an active surveillance network to identify patients that have suffered severe ADRs across Canada. The candidate will have access to one of the largest clinical and genomic databases on drug and increasingly, vaccine responses. The database currently contains data from more than 12,000 children, linked to 12,493 detailed ADR reports and 116,635 records of medication use without ADRs. The vaccine data is more recent and is built through two global networks. Genotyping data includes both array-based platforms (Illumina Global Screening Array) and cutting-edge sequencing technologies, such as exome and short- and long-read whole-genome sequencing. The candidate will also benefit from state-of-the-art analytical tools and high-performance computing resources through the AWS cloud system and the UBC High Performance Computing Cluster, enabling efficient analysis at all stages of data processing.

Applicants with a background in pharmacogenomics, clinical pharmacology, medical genetics, experimental medicine, pediatrics, pharmacy, ethics or any other related fields are encouraged to apply. If interested, please submit a cover letter detailing research interests, curriculum vitae, writing sample and three references to: 

Gabriella Groeneweg, MA
Administration and Strategic Communications, Manager
E-mail: ggroeneweg@popi.ubc.ca