Description
The Spatial Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Houston is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Fellow and Ph.D. students to join our newly established and growing research team. Our research develops AI and machine-learning methods to advance biological and clinical discovery, with particular interests in single-cell and spatial biology, biomedical imaging, and cancer research.
Successful candidates will have opportunities to lead interdisciplinary research projects, develop independent research directions, collaborate with biomedical and clinical investigators, and contribute to high-impact publications.
More information about the laboratory and current research can be found at zheng-lab.org/
Research Areas
Our research aims to develop and deploy novel computational frameworks that integrate digital pathology, spatial and single-cell omics, genomics, and clinical data to model tissue architectures and signaling environments in health and disease, with the overarching goal of uncovering mechanisms underlying treatment resistance and advancing precision medicine.
Responsibilities
• Develop and apply bioinformatics, machine learning and deep-learning methods to extract biologically and clinically relevant insights from multimodal biomedical datasets.
• Design, develop and maintain computational pipelines to analyze large-scale biomedical data including digital pathology images, spatial transcriptomics, single-cell data, genomics, and clinical data.
• Conduct research related to tissue characterization, feature extraction, tumor immune microenvironments and precision oncology.
• Design and execute computational experiments and perform rigorous statistical analyses.
• Prepare manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals and present findings at scientific conferences.
• Collaborate with investigators across computational science, biology, pathology, and medicine.
• Participate in laboratory meetings and contribute to the development of a collaborative and supportive research environment.
Minimum Qualifications
Postdoctoral Fellow
Candidates should have recently completed, or expect to complete, a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a quantitative, computational, biomedical, or related discipline. Candidates within approximately three years of Ph.D. completion are particularly encouraged to apply. A strong research record is expected; first-author publications are preferred.
Ph.D. Students
Candidates should have recently completed, or be currently completing, a bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, biomedical engineering, bioinformatics, data science, biostatistics, biomedical sciences, or a related field.
For Both Positions
Proficiency in scientific programming, particularly Python and/or R, is required.
Why Join Us
• Access to state-of-the-art computational resources and high-performance computing infrastructure;
• Opportunities for working with an interdisciplinary team in a highly collaborative environment;
• Close collaboration with researchers across pathology, clinical medicine, biology and engineers.
• Structured mentoring and accessible support for research, manuscript preparation, and presentations;
• Support for fellowship and career development award applications and preparation for future academic, research, or industry careers.
All positions at the University of Houston-System are security sensitive and will require a criminal history check.
The University of Houston System and its universities are Equal Opportunity Institutions. Everyone is encouraged to apply.
Applicants should submit the following materials via email to yzheng35@uh.edu:
• Curriculum vitae (CV);
• A cover letter describing their research experience, technical background, and long-term career goals;
• Contact information for two or three references, including their relationship to the applicant.