Job Description
Postdoctoral Research Fellow –Immunology of aging and neurodegenerative disease
Our company is a global health care leader with a portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines, and consumer health products, as well as animal health products. Today, we are building a new kind of healthcare company – one that is ready to help create a healthier future for all of us.
Our ability to excel depends on the integrity, knowledge, imagination, skill, and teamwork of people like you. To this end, we strive to create an environment of mutual respect, encouragement, and teamwork. As part of our global team, you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with talented and dedicated colleagues while developing and expanding your career.
Be a part of the legacy: Research and Development Division Postdoctoral Research Fellow Program
The company's Research Laboratories Postdoctoral Research Fellow Program aims to be a best-in-industry program for industrial postdoctoral researchers, designed to provide you with an academic focus in a commercial environment. With the resources, reach, and expertise of a large pharmaceutical company, postdoctoral researchers will be positioned to excel in an institution committed to breakthrough innovation in research and discovery.
Position Overview
We are looking for an energetic, innovative postdoctoral fellow with strong expertise in immunology to join our team at the West Point, PA site.
You’ll become part of a highly collaborative research environment, working on a cross-functional project that bridges Immunology and Neuroscience.
In This Role You Will
- Design and execute mechanistic studies and develop relevant models to test hypotheses.
- Work closely with mentors and a multidisciplinary team to shape research plans, generate robust data, and produce novel, field-advancing insights in neuroimmunology.
- Launch and lead independent projects that investigate how adaptive immunity changes with aging and how these changes influence neurodegenerative disease.
If you are driven to translate curiosity into rigorously executed experiments and meaningful discoveries, this role offers the opportunity to make a significant impact at the interface of immunology and neuroscience.
Responsibilities Include But Are Not Limited To
- Establish and optimize models of innate and adaptive immune modulation in pre-clinical species.
- Develop immunological assays to characterize innate and antigen-specific humoral and cellular immune responses.
- Perform single cell assays including high-parameter flow cytometry and single cell omics profiling (e.g. single cell RNAseq and immune repertoire profiling).
- Perform neurodegenerative pathology analysis in animal models of disease using immunohistochemistry, western blot, company et.al.
- Data interpretation, manuscript and patent preparation, publication, and presentation.
Education Minimum Requirement
- Ph.D. completed within 6 months of hire in Immunology, Cell biology, Neuroscience or related field.
Required Experience And Skills
- Expertise in in vivo immunological response studies.
- Hands-on experience working with pre-clinical animal models and manipulating samples derived from these models.
- Hands-on experience and solid knowledge in aseptic techniques in tissue culture.
- Hands-on experience and solid knowledge in Immunology, molecular biology and cell biology.
- Hands-on experience with in vitro assay development and troubleshooting.
- Experience in immunological assays (e.g. ELISA, ELISPOT, high-parameter flow cytometry, cell sorting).
- Strong publication record and ability to design and execute experiments and interpret data.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
Preferred Experience And Skills
- Experience in biochemistry/molecular biology assays (immunohistochemistry, western blot, Meso Scale Discovery assay et.al.)
- Familiarity or experience with single-cell omics assays and data analysis, in vitro restimulation assays.
- Familiarity or experience with Alzheimer’s disease animal models
- Familiarity or experience with vaccine platforms.
Our employees are the key to our company’s success. We demonstrate our commitment to our employees by offering a competitive and valuable rewards program. Our company's benefits are designed to support the wide range of goals, needs and lifestyles of our employees, and many of the people that matter the most in their lives.
Our company is an equal opportunity employer, M/F/D/V – proudly embracing in all of its manifestations. Former Military, Transitioning Service Members, National Guard & Reserves - We value your past and present service.
The Salary Range For This Role Is
$71,900 - $113,200
This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs.
The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.
We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days
Required Skills
Accountability, Accountability, Adaptability, Analytical Chemistry, Assay, Assay Development, Biochemical Assays, Biochemical Tests, Blotting Techniques, Cell Culture Techniques, Cell Physiology, Computational Biology, Data Analysis, Flow Cytometry, Immunoassays, Immunoprecipitation, In Vitro Assays, In Vivo Mouse Models, Mathematical Biology, Molecular Biology, Parasitology, Programming Languages, Radioimmunoassay (RIA), Scientific Research, Scientific Writing {+ 3 more}
Preferred Skills
Current Employees apply HERE
Current Contingent Workers apply HERE
US And Puerto Rico Residents Only
Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.
Requirements
As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:
EEOC Know Your Rights
EEOC GINA Supplement
We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.
Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts
U.S. Hybrid Work Model
Effective September 5, 2023, employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week, Monday - Thursday, although the specific days may vary by site or organization, with Friday designated as a remote-working day, unless business critical tasks require an on-site presence.This Hybrid work model does not apply to, and daily in-person attendance is required for, field-based positions; facility-based, manufacturing-based, or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note, this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as “remote”.
San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance
Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance
Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.
Employee Status
Regular
Relocation:
Domestic
VISA Sponsorship
No
Travel Requirements
10%
Flexible Work Arrangements
Not Applicable
Shift
Not Indicated
Valid Driving License
No
Hazardous Material(s)
N/A
Job Posting End Date
02/27/2026
- A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.
Requisition ID:R385565
