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Bakar Research Investigator in Computational Biomedicine

Position Description: The Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS) seeks individuals for appointment to the Bakar Computational Biomedicine Institute (BCBI), a joint institute of UC Berkeley and UCSF. The positions will be Bakar Research Investigators in Computational Biomedicine. This is an independent research position, not a conventional postdoctoral appointment. Bakar Research Investigators hold principal investigator status, set their own scientific direction, and receive substantial dedicated annual research funding to pursue ambitious projects of their own design. Appointments are for up to four years and will have access to resources and collaborations across both institutes.

How This Position Fits in the BCBI Vision:
BCBI recruits at two levels, and the two programs are intended for different candidates.

Candidates for this position, as a Bakar Research Investigator, should be ready for independence now. They arrive with a concrete vision for their own research program, they define their own questions, and they hold the funding to pursue them. A Bakar Research Investigator is not assigned to a faculty member’s laboratory, is not hired onto a predefined project, and is not a supervised trainee.

In contrast, candidates seeking a mentored training position should apply to the Bakar Postdoctoral Fellows Program, which is designed for early-career scientists who work with designated computational mentors as they build toward independence.

What the Position Provides

• Principal investigator status, with the ability to apply for and hold extramural funding.
• An appointment of up to four years.
• Substantial dedicated annual research funding, sufficient to support personnel, computing, and experimental collaborations.
• Access to research resources, core facilities, and collaborators at both UCSF and UC Berkeley.
• Membership in the BCBI scientific community, including cross-disciplinary research meetings, workshops, and annual retreats.

Who We Seek
Bakar Research Investigators will be computational innovators who develop new AI, machine learning, statistical, and other computational methods motivated by important problems in biology and medicine. They will lead independent research programs. We also expect them to enrich BCBI’s broader computational community, contributing new ideas and expertise to collaborations with experimental and biomedical researchers, and catalyzing research across labs, disciplines, and campuses. UC Berkeley will also conduct separate searches for Bakar Research Investigators as part of the broader initiative. These searches will have their own application and selection processes.

Research Environment
BCBI sits within an unusual concentration of biological, therapeutic, and clinical research. At UC Berkeley, the Innovative Genomics Institute advances genome engineering toward accessible solutions in human health, and the Molecular Therapeutics Initiative brings together disease biology, chemistry, structural biology, data science, and biotechnology to tackle challenging disease targets. At UCSF and Gladstone, the Bakar Aging Research Institute, the Bakar Ear and Hearing Institute, and the Gladstone-UCSF Genomic Immunology Institute address aging, hearing and balance disorders, and the human immune system. The Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center integrates basic science, clinical research, population science, and patient care. The Bakar ImmunoX Initiative and the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute provide shared technologies, data infrastructure, and expertise for immunology and precision medicine. Together these units give Bakar Research Investigators direct access to collaborations to answer biological questions, access experimental technologies, interrogate biomedical data, and address clinical challenges that few computational researchers can reach.

Required Qualifications: A PhD or equivalent doctoral degree (by hire date) in computer science, statistics, mathematics, physics, computational biology, bioengineering, or a related quantitative field. Candidates are expected to have 0-3 years of postdoctoral experience. Candidates must meet the required qualifications at the time of appointment. Candidate’s application materials must state qualifications (or if pending) upon submission.

Preferred Qualifications: A record of methodological innovation in AI, machine learning, statistics, or related computational areas. A publication record demonstrating significant and identifiable intellectual contributions. A concrete and ambitious vision for an independent research program.

Evidence of productive collaboration with experimental or clinical researchers. Experience mentoring graduate students or junior scientists. Prior research experience in biology or biomedicine is valued but not required, and exceptional quantitative scientists seeking to move into biomedicine are encouraged to apply.

Application Instructions

We will review applications for this position until filled. Applicants must include:

1. Biosketch/Curriculum Vitae - note that while we will accept any format, we prefer a NIH Biographical Sketch Common Form with the with the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement as prepared in ScienCV. We have the following recommendations for how to use the following sections in the supplement:
   • A. Personal statement. This section should describe your overarching research vision and why you are well-suited for our department. Relevant factors may include: aspects of your training; your previous experimental or theoretical work; the collaborators you envision working with at UCSF; how you would benefit from and contribute to the scientific environment at UCSF; the key goals of your future research program. This section replaces a standard cover letter. This section should be no longer than 3500 characters.
   • B. Contributions to Science. Briefly describe up to five of your most significant contributions to science. Each Contribution to Science is limited to 2,000 characters. You may provide in-text, parenthetical references for any publication, not just those listed in the Products section of your Biographical Sketch Common Form that are relevant to the contributions described in this section. You may cite published papers or publicly available preprints deposited on a server (e.g. BioRxiv). We will not accept confidential manuscripts as attachments to the application and do not recommend referencing works that are “in preparation” or “submitted” unless there is a publicly available preprint. These sections replace the standard “prior research accomplishments” statement.
   • C. Please be sure to include your Persistent Identifier (PID) and make sure it is up to date with your complete publication record.
2. A description of future research plans; Ideally, this is 2 pages, including figures - but not including references.
3. Contact information for three references. Questions about the position may be directed to james.fraser@ucsf.edu

See Table 13B for the salary range for this position. A reasonable estimate for this position is $96,700-$257,100.

Please apply online on AP Recruit.

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.

UCSF is committed to welcoming and serving all people, honoring the dignity of every individual without preference or prejudice, in support of its public mission and in alignment with our PRIDE values and Principles of Community.

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct.
• “Misconduct” means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant’s previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, or discrimination, as defined by the employer.
• UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
• UC Anti-Discrimination Policy
• APM - 035: Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment