Postdoctoral Research Fellow - McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics

Located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center in Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, UTHealth offers a cosmopolitan setting for your academic and professional growth. Join us in our commitment to advancing the frontier of AI and data science applied to basic research and clinical practice. We look forward to welcoming an enthusiastic and dedicated postdoctoral fellow to contribute to our collaborative and innovative research environment.

Embark on a groundbreaking journey by applying for a postdoctoral position within the Data Science and Informatics Core for Cancer Research (DSICCR: https://sbmi.uth.edu/dsiccr/) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). We are eager to welcome highly motivated individuals to join the dynamic and innovative research environment in Dr. W. Jim Zheng's group (https://sbmi.uth.edu/faculty-and-staff/jim-zheng.htm) at the McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics (MSBMI).

DSICCR is renowned for its productive track record in data science, informatics, and AI (https://sbmi.uth.edu/dsiccr/outcomes). Past postdoctoral fellows have made significant contributions to high-impact publications and played key roles in winning teams in national and international competitions, such as BioCreative and LitCoin NLP Challenge. Notable publications include works in JAMA (Zhu and Zheng, 320(11):1103-1104, 2018), Nature Communications (Yuan, et al., 12, 2031, doi:10.1038/s41467-021-22200-5, 2021), and Nucleic Acid Research (Yang, et al., 53(D1):D331-D339, 2025, PMID: 39530217)

RESPONSIBILITIES: As a successful candidate, you will apply your chemistry and structure biology skills to play a pivotal role in study design, data collection, analysis pipeline development, data analysis, algorithm development, results interpretation, manuscript writing and proposal development for protein structure prediction projects. Your responsibilities will extend to collaborative research with esteemed faculty at UTHealth and other institutions, fostering a dynamic and interdisciplinary approach to AI and data science.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: The individual should have a strong background and formal training in chemistry, structural biology, and small-molecule drug screening and development. Essential qualifications include solid experience in protein structure and related data analysis, with a proven record of published research. Hands-on experience with experimental structural methods such as cryo-EM, X-ray crystallography, or NMR along with the detailed understanding of protein secondary and tertiary structure behavior that comes from working in such an environment is strongly preferred. Programming skills and additional expertise in bioinformatics and quantitative and analytical science are a plus. Excellent teamwork, communication skills, and the ability to develop and maintain high-quality collaborations are required.

What we do here changes the world. UTHealth Houston is Texas’ resource for healthcare education, innovation, scientific discovery, and excellence in patient care. That’s where you come in.

Once you join us you won't want to leave. It’s because we reward our team for the excellent service they provide. Our total rewards package includes the benefits you’d expect from a top healthcare organization (benefits, insurance, etc.), plus:  

• 100% paid medical premiums for our full-time employees  
• Generous time off (holidays, preventative leave day, both vacation and sick time – all of which equates to around 37-38 days per year) 
• The longer you stay, the more vacation you’ll accrue! 
• Build your future with our awesome retirement/pension plan! 

We take care of our employees! As a world-renowned institution, our employees’ wellbeing is important to us. We offer work/life services such as... 

• Free financial and legal counseling 
• Free mental health counseling services 
• Gym membership discounts and access to wellness programs 
• Other employee discounts including entertainment, car rentals, cell phones, etc. 
• Resources for child and elder care 
• Plus many more! 

Position Summary:

Embark on a groundbreaking journey by applying for a postdoctoral position within the Data Science and Informatics Core for Cancer Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). We are eager to welcome highly motivated individuals to join the dynamic and innovative research environment in Dr. W. Jim Zheng's group at the McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics (MSBMI).

Position Key Accountabilities:

As a successful candidate, you will apply your chemistry and structure biology skills to play a pivotal role in study design, data collection, analysis pipeline development, data analysis, algorithm development, results interpretation, manuscript writing and proposal development for protein structure prediction projects. Your responsibilities will extend to collaborative research with esteemed faculty at UTHealth and other institutions, fostering a dynamic and interdisciplinary approach to AI and data science.

DSICCR is renowned for its productive track record in data science, informatics, and AI. Past postdoctoral fellows have made significant contributions to high-impact publications and played key roles in winning teams in national and international competitions, such as BioCreative and LitCoin NLP Challenge. Notable publications include works in JAMA (Zhu and Zheng, 320(11):1103-1104, 2018), Nature Communications (Yuan, et al., 12, 2031, doi:10.1038/s41467-021-22200-5, 2021), and Nucleic Acid Research (Yang, et al., 53(D1):D331-D339, 2025, PMID: 39530217)

As a member of our research community, you will benefit from comprehensive training in AI research and gain hands-on experience with DSICCR's advanced computing infrastructure. This includes access to a Hadoop cluster, a large memory server, several state-of-the-art Nvidia GPU servers (including the world's first Nvidia DGX H100 server), and High-Performance Computing (HPC) clusters at the Texas Advanced Computing Center.

Minimum Education:

Doctoral/Terminal Degree

APPOINTMENTS/BENEFITS: This is a full-time, 12-month appointment, renewable annually with comprehensive benefits. Anticipated postdoctoral training duration is 2-3 years with multiple fellowship support opportunities.

QUALIFICATIONS: The individual should have a strong background and formal training in chemistry, structural biology, and small-molecule drug screening and development. Essential qualifications include solid experience in protein structure and related data analysis, with a proven record of published research. Hands-on experience with experimental structural methods such as cryo-EM, X-ray crystallography, or NMR along with the detailed understanding of protein secondary and tertiary structure behavior that comes from working in such an environment is strongly preferred. Programming skills and additional expertise in bioinformatics and quantitative and analytical science are a plus. Excellent teamwork, communication skills, and the ability to develop and maintain high-quality collaborations are required.

Physical Requirements:

Exerts up to 20 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 10 pounds frequently and/or a negligible amount constantly to move objects.

Security Sensitive:

This job class may contain positions that are security sensitive and thereby subject to the provisions of Texas Education Code § 51.215

Residency Requirement:

Employees must permanently reside and work in the State of Texas.

This position is a security-sensitive position pursuant to Texas Education Code §51.215 and Texas Government Code §411.094. To the extent that a position requires the holder to research, work on, or have access to critical infrastructure as defined in Texas Business and Commerce Code §117.001(2), the ability to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure is a minimum qualification to be hired for and to continue to be employed in that position. Personnel in such positions, and similarly situated state contractors, will be routinely reviewed to determine whether things such as criminal history or continuous connections to the government or political apparatus of a foreign adversary might prevent the applicant, employee, or contractor from being able to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure. A foreign adversary is a nation listed in 15 C.F.R. §791.4.