Career Center

The Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is a signature component of the UNC Institute for Convergent Science (ICS) in which fellows work with teams of researchers and innovators to transition their research to applied goals. ICS Innovation Fellows bridge the scientific/technical elements of an ICS project with team science and commercialization support activities.

This ICS Innovation Fellowship position will focus on translational research for novel neural technologies to record and stimulate human brain organoids. The postdoc fellow will be co-advised by Dr. Wubin Bai and Dr. Jason Stein. Technical skills that will be acquired through this fellowship range from organoid differentiation, microfabrication, device assembly and integration, data acquisition, and device packaging. This project is funded by a two-year ICS AGILE (Advance Great Inventions or Leave Early) award.

The Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow will devote ~70% effort to the scientific project (the scientific and technical elements plus related commercialization support), under the supervision of the project PIs, and ~30% effort toward supporting and contributing to other projects within the ICS under the supervision of the ICS Associate Director. Projects included in this 30% effort category may include performing customer discovery, market research and patent landscaping; providing project management support for other ICS teams; developing and coordinating ICS events and workshops; and supporting proposal development projects. Because this is the first position of its kind, the fellow selected for this position is invited to help shape and define the role. There is flexibility to tailor the experience to the career goals of the fellow, depending on availability of suitable projects/initiatives.

This fellowship offers unique training in translational science while also developing commercialization and project leadership skills. Fellows are also encouraged to participate in existing experiential training programs including UNC Venture Catalyst Program and I-Corps program. Fellows will have access to UNC CareerWell courses (including Market Research, Team Collaboration, Technology Commercialization Fundamentals, Applied Project Management) offered by The Graduate School. The work location for this position is adjacent to the KickStart Accelerator, where the fellow will have access to mentoring from KickStart Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and its advisory network. The fellow is invited to participate in KickStart events and workshops.

The Bai lab focuses on the development of new technology that can intelligently immerse electronics and photonics into biological systems, and the creation of new tools and devices to address unmet clinical needs and improve human healthcare. The Stein lab focuses on understanding how genetic variation affects brain structure and development using human stem cell model systems. The two labs have been working together for over 1 year and are pursuing a project together to develop novel neural technologies to record and stimulate human brain organoids.

The fellowship is initially a one-year assignment, with possible extension to two years if the ICS-funded AGILE project meets its milestones.

Preferred expertise includes materials fabrication, mammalian cell culture, neuronal recording, though we are eager to teach desired skills necessary for the project.