Postdoctoral Fellow (Translational Biobanking), Mandai Nature - 3 Year Contract

Mandai Nature is a successful Singapore-based non-profit conservation organisation jointly set up by Temasek and Mandai Wildlife Group (which manages zoological parks including Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, River Wonders, Rainforest Wild and Bird Paradise). Mandai Nature is the conservation arm of Mandai Wildlife Group and was established with the aim of advancing efforts on biodiversity protection in Singapore and Asia. Through impactful programmes and innovative partnerships Mandai Nature strives to protect nature and inspire action.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Research execution within assigned work packages

• Plan and conduct experiments agreed with the Principal Investigator, including cell culture, cryopreservation, molecular biology, microscopy, image analysis and data interpretation.

• Develop testable hypotheses, experimental plans and troubleshooting approaches for defined project components rather than setting the overall programme strategy.

• Keep current with relevant literature and apply appropriate methods to improve experimental design, reproducibility and interpretation.

• Process, culture, cryopreserve and recover wildlife-derived tissues, cells and other biological materials using approved SOPs and quality-control criteria.

• Support taxon-specific optimisation of primary cell isolation, culture conditions, banking, thawing, viability assessment and sample tracking.

• Maintain accurate sample records, laboratory notebooks and metadata for assigned samples and experiments.

• Contribute to iPSC-related workflows, stem-cell characterisation, differentiation assays, disease-relevant cell models or other conservation biotechnology platforms as assigned.

• Perform molecular and cellular assays such as DNA/RNA isolation, qRT-PCR, sequencing-related preparation or interpretation, protein analysis, western blotting, immunostaining, FISH, microscopy and image analysis.

• Analyze wet-lab and dry-lab outputs rigorously, documenting limitations and technical uncertainties.
  

2. Grant, funder and project-reporting support

• Contribute scientific content, preliminary data, methods, figures, literature summaries and progress updates for grant applications, donor proposals and funder reports.

• Support milestone tracking for assigned project components, without holding overall PI-level responsibility for grant strategy, award management or budget ownership.

• Prepare concise updates on progress, risks, troubleshooting and next steps for the Principal Investigator and project team.
  

3. Collaboration, stakeholder engagement and regional networks

• Work collaboratively with internal laboratory colleagues, veterinary teams, bioinformatics colleagues, students and external collaborators on assigned research activities.

• Participate actively in lab meetings, project discussions, protocol reviews and cross-disciplinary problem solving.

• Support partner-facing scientific activities where experimental detail or technical explanation is required.
  

4. Mentoring and day-to-day laboratory support

• Provide technical guidance to research assistants, interns or students on specific methods experiments, documentation and data handling

• Support laboratory workflow, reagent preparation, equipment use, procurement inputs, consumables monitoring and safe day-to-day operations as needed

• Model rigorous, reproducible and ethical laboratory practice for junior team members.
  

5. Compliance, safety and research integrity

• Conduct all assigned work in accordance with laboratory ethics, biosafety, animal ethics, sample access requirements, approved SOPs and institutional policies.

• Maintain accurate records for experiments, samples, data, deviations and troubleshooting.

• Flag concerns and proposed solutions promptly where sample use, experimental feasibility, biosafety, data quality or animal-welfare implications require PI review.
  

Job Requirements:

• PhD or equivalent doctoral degree in Biological Sciences, Life Sciences, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Stem Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Reproductive Biology, Conservation Biology, Veterinary Science or a related field.

• Doctoral training should include substantial laboratory research experience and evidence of ability to complete independent experimental or analytical work.

• Additional training in stem-cell methods, cryobiology, biobanking, bioinformatics, statistics, microscopy, biosafety, animal ethics or research integrity would be advantageous.

• Experience conducting independent or semi-independent laboratory research as part of doctoral or postdoctoral training.

• Hands-on experience with cell culture, molecular biology, cellular characterisation, microscopy/image analysis and quantitative data interpretation.

• Experience handling tissue samples for cell-line derivation, primary culture development or work with difficult/non-model species samples would be highly relevant.

• Experience contributing to peer-reviewed publications, manuscript preparation, conference presentations, technical reports or grant-support materials.

• Experience with iPSC generation, stem-cell differentiation, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, flow cytometry, FACS, high-throughput screening or advanced bioinformatics would be desirable.

• Experience mentoring students, interns or research assistants on specific technical workflows would be advantageous, but this role is not expected to carry full PI-level team leadership responsibility.

• Strong working knowledge of molecular biology, cell biology, tissue culture, cryopreservation, stem-cell biology and/or conservation biotechnology relevant to non-model or wildlife species

• Hands-on proficiency in relevant laboratory methods such as tissue handling, primary cell isolation, cell-line derivation, cell culture, DNA/RNA isolation, qRT-PCR, sequence analysis, plasmid cloning, protein analysis, western blotting, immunostaining, microscopy, image analysis and FISH.

• Ability to analyse and interpret experimental data using appropriate statistical, bioinformatics or image-analysis approaches, with transparent documentation of limitations.

• Scientific writing capability for manuscripts, abstracts, presentations, technical reports, grant-support materials and internal progress updates.

• Understanding of laboratory safety, biosafety, ethics, sample traceability, data integrity, SOP adherence and reproducible research practice.

• Ability to work independently on assigned research while collaborating effectively with the Principal Investigator, research team, students, collaborators and operational colleagues.