Postdoctoral Researcher

Company Description

UHN is Canada’s #1 hospital and the world’s #1 publicly funded hospital. With 10 sites and more than 44,000 TeamUHN members, UHN consists of Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, The Michener Institute of Education and West Park Healthcare Centre. As Canada's top research hospital, the scope of biomedical research and complexity of cases at UHN have made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. UHN has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in neurosciences, cardiology, transplantation, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. UHN is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto.

UHN’s vision is to build A Healthier World and it’s only because of the talented and dedicated people who work here that we are continually bringing that vision closer to reality.

www.uhn.ca

Job Description

Union: Non-Union
New or Replacement: New
Number of Vacancies: 1
Site: PMCRT - MaRS
Department: TGH Research
Reports to: Senior Scientist
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
Salary: $56,141 - $72,969 per annually
Shifts: Day
Status: Temporary Full-time
Repost Closing Date: November 17, 2026

Position Summary

More than 250 million people are chronically infected with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) with no effective cure. My lab is part of the Toronto Centre for Liver Disease, one of the largest liver clinics in North America, with an active clinical trial research program testing novel hepatitis B therapies in Phase 1- 3 clinical trials. New studies are incorporating longitudinal liver sampling with single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) to better understand the intrahepatic immune response to novel treatments in the context of viral control and liver inflammation.

We are looking for a bioinformatician with demonstrated experience single-cell RNA sequencing analysis and an interest in incorporating new artificial intelligence tools into the analysis pipeline. The anticipation is that this qualified person will be able to work with large scRNAseq datasets with cell numbers >3,000,000 cells and be able to code in relevant languages to incorporate the latest analysis tools.

This is an opportunity to work with state-of-the-art data in the context of novel drugs in early-stage clinical trials. The position will involve industry collaboration with the expectation of academic publication. There will also be internal opportunities for collaboration in our basic research projects focused HBV pathogenesis using similar samples.

Duties

The successful applicant will be expected

• To use/develop pipelines for large, single-cell dataset alignment and quality control.
• To cluster and annotate immune cell populations
• To use advanced analysis tools beyond basic differential gene expression and pathway analysis
• Integrate clinical and transcriptomic data for analysis using machine learning and novel artificial intelligence models.
• To effectively visualize and communicate single-cell analysis outputs to bench scientists
• Mentor graduate students in bioinformatics analysis
• Organize and maintain datasets on the storage archive
• To use the UHN high-performance computing cluster

Qualifications

• PhD received within 5 years (or MD received within 10 years) in relevant field of study
• Published experience in scRNAseq data analysis
• Interest in human immunology and willingness to learn about hepatitis B infection
• Ability to work independently from home and onsite
• Ability to advise/mentor fellow lab members in bioinformatics analysis strategies
• Problem-solving initiative
• Attention to detail and strong organizational skills
• Good verbal and written communication skills

Additional Information

Why join UHN?
In addition to working alongside some of the most talented and inspiring healthcare professionals in the world, UHN offers a wide range of benefits, programs and perks. It is the comprehensiveness of these offerings that makes it a differentiating factor, allowing you to find value where it matters most to you, now and throughout your career at UHN.

• Competitive offer packages
• Government organization and a member of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP https://hoopp.com/)
• Close access to Transit and UHN shuttle service
• A flexible work environment
• Opportunities for development and promotions within a large organization
• Additional perks (multiple corporate discounts including: travel, restaurants, parking, phone plans, auto insurance discounts, on-site gyms, etc.)

Current UHN employees must have successfully completed their probationary period, have a good employee record along with satisfactory attendance in accordance with UHN's attendance management program, to be eligible for consideration.

All applications must be submitted before the posting close date.

UHN uses email to communicate with selected candidates. Please ensure you check your email regularly. At University Health Network (UHN), artificial intelligence technologies may be used to assist in the screening, assessment, and selection of candidates for this position.

Please be advised that a Criminal Record Check may be required of the successful candidate. Should it be determined that any information provided by a candidate be misleading, inaccurate or incorrect, UHN reserves the right to discontinue with the consideration of their application.

UHN is an equal opportunity employer committed to an inclusive recruitment process and workplace. Requests for accommodation can be made at any stage of the recruitment process. Applicants need to make their requirements known.

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.