Open Postdoctoral position, faculty mentor Joshua Spin

Posted on Mon, 07/07/2025 - 14:19

Important Info
Deprecated / Faculty Sponsor (Last, First Name): 
Spin, Joshua
Other Mentor(s) if Applicable: 
Philip Tsao
Stanford Departments and Centers: 
Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine
Postdoc Appointment Term: 
4 years
Appointment Start Date: 
5/15/25
How to Submit Application Materials: 

E-mail to jspin1@stanford.edu (link sends e-mail)

Does this position pay above the required minimum?: 
No. The expected base pay for this position is the Stanford University required minimum for all postdoctoral scholars appointed through the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. The FY25 minimum is $76,383.

Position Title

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Vascular Biology

Position Description

The Spin research lab at Palo Alto Veterans Health Care is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow to be hired through Stanford University, with experience in Vascular Biology to work on a project investigating the transgenerational impact of e-cigarette vaping on the development of abdominal aortic aneurysm. This project combines basic wet-lab bench research and animal (murine) studies. The Spin lab also works in direct collaboration with the lab of Dr. Philip Tsao (Stanford Professor). This position is full-time (100% FTE), 12-months/year, with an initial term appointment of ~4 years (48 months), renewable depending on funding and/or satisfactory performance.

Start date

The start date is negotiable and the position is available immediately, with a preference to fill the position as soon as possible. 

The VA Palo Alto Healthcare System (VAPAHCS) is located on the peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a Stanford affiliated institution, located 15 minutes from the campus and medical center. This is a major research-oriented VA facility with $80M in annual research expenditures, greater than 600 active research projects and over 180 principal investigators pursuing laboratory, clinical, and health services research. The wet lab environment includes several core facilities such as confocal microscopy and flow cytometry. Our non-profit research administration organization, the Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research (PAVIR), is located on the VA premises with a mission to facilitate research activities conducted at VAPAHCS and to coordinate research collaborations with institutions outside the VA, including Stanford University. PIs have their laboratories at the VA and share the VA Animal Facility and common equipment, and also have the benefit of access to research facilities at Stanford University including core computing, microscopy, library, biostores, and analytical facilities. The Spin lab has access to laboratory space situated in the new state-of-the-art Basic Science Building (Bldg 710; 90,000 sq ft total research space) on the campus of the VAPAHCS. 

Project Details

The lab focuses on abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), a common, morbid and highly lethal disease, with no medical therapies known to limit growth. The recent explosion in popularity of e-cigarette “vaping” has raised urgent questions as to the short and long-term impacts on vascular disease risk. Published work from our laboratory has shown that both subcutaneous infusion of the major tobacco component, nicotine, and inhaled e-cigarette nicotine vapor, augment model AAA. 

Exposure to tobacco smoke, nicotine, and vaping can cause cellular epigenetic alterations, which may be transmitted in a transgenerational fashion. Our data show that both infused nicotine, and e-cig vaping, in mice augment AAA in their progeny, and cause genome alterations within the blood and tissues of both parents and offspring. 

Our planned studies will examine the effects of nicotine and e-cigarette vapor on the cellular epigenetic machinery in vitro and in vivo, with a particular emphasis on heritable changes capable of augmenting AAA.

For more information about the study, utilize the following references:

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/atvb.39.suppl_1.266 (link is external)

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/atvb.39.suppl_1.446 (link is external)

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/atvb.44.suppl_1.3005 (link is external)  

The Postdoctoral Fellow will be working on in vitro and in vivo/ex vivo studies investigating the pathophysiology of aortic aneurysm, and in particular the mechanisms behind the transgenerational impacts of nicotine and vaping on vascular risk. These will include animal breeding, treatment, microsurgery and ultrasound imaging; cellular and molecular biology studies and assays including for example cell culture and transfections, qRT-PCR, RNA and DNA isolation and preparation, ELISAs, tissue histology and microscopy, and high-throughput multi-omic analyses. This position will be expected to work in a collaborative environment both within the lab as well as with other laboratories.

The work will include conducting the experiments, conducting rodent surgeries, collecting and analyzing data, performing literature searches, and communicating the results by writing and publishing scientific manuscripts and giving presentations at scientific conferences.

Required Qualifications: 

Education:

• Required: PhD or MD (or equivalent experience) in medical sciences, molecular biology, cell biology, or related field.

Work Experience:

• Required: Animal handling experience, specifically working with mice. Cell culture experience.
• Desired: 2+ years of related research experience in vascular biology.

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities:

• Microsurgical training and experience;
• Proven knowledge in field of research;
• Experience in a variety of research techniques/methods and follow-up data collection;
• Knowledge of research procedures and protocols gained through education or experience;
• Ability to work independently and within a team context;
• Effective communication skills (written and verbal), including public speaking skills;
• Excellent organization skills and attention to detail;
• Proven technical and analytical skills;
• Ability to troubleshoot an experiment as necessary.
• Proficiency with a computer;
• Knowledge of math and statistics, experience with PRISM and Excel preferred;
• Familiarity with epigenetics/epigenomics and high-throughput tissue/gene multi-omic profiling a plus.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS / PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• Physical: Sitting for extended periods of time, repetitive movements (small animal surgery).
• Environmental: Exposure to wet lab environment, bloodborne pathogens, toxic/caustic chemicals or reagents.

 

Required Application Materials: 

• Curriculum Vitae
• Reference letter from former mentor/supervisor

 

Stanford is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.