Research Assistant I

The Bhupathiraju Lab at Channing Division of Network Medicine (Department of Medicine, Mass General Brigham) is seeking a part-time Research Assistant to support an NIH-funded project investigating metabolomic signatures of flavonoid rich foods and their relationships with type 2 diabetes.
The Research Assistant will work under the supervision of Dr. Bhupathiraju and will focus on high-dimensional data analysis of metabolomics and dietary datasets using R and Python. This position is well suited for a quantitatively oriented candidate interested in metabolomics, nutritional epidemiology, and data science.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Import, clean, and manage large, high-dimensional datasets, including metabolomic profiles, dietary intake, and clinical covariates.
• Conduct statistical and multivariable analyses inR and/or Python, including:
  • Data preprocessing and normalization of metabolomics data
  • Dimension reduction (e.g., PCA) and clustering methods
  • Regression and other modeling approaches to relate diet to metabolomic patterns and cardiometabolic outcomes.
• Create reproducible analysis pipelines and documentation (R scripts, Python notebooks, Git/GitHub version control).
• Generate tables, figures, and visualizations for abstracts, manuscripts, and presentations.
• Assist with interpretation of findings and drafting of analytic and methods sections.
• Participate in regular lab and project meetings; present interim analyses as needed.
• Adhere to all Mass General Brigham policies regarding data security, privacy, and research compliance (including IRB requirements and HIPAA).
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's degree inBiostatistics, Epidemiology, Data Science, Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Nutrition, or a related quantitative field; or current enrollment in a MPH program.
• Demonstrated experience working withhigh-dimensional or large epidemiologic data.
• Proficiency inR and/or Pythonfor data management, statistical analysis, and visualization.
• Working knowledge of machine learning methods
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Preferred:

• Prior experience withmetabolomicsor other omics data (e.g., genomics, proteomics).
• Experience with R packages such astidyverse,data.table,lme4,survival,glmnet, or Python libraries such aspandas,numpy,scikit-learn, andstatsmodels.
• Familiarity withdietary assessment data(e.g., FFQs, 24-hour recalls) and/or nutritional epidemiology.
• Experience with reproducible research tools (R Markdown, Quarto, Jupyter, Git/GitHub).
• Experience contributing to scientific manuscripts or conference abstracts.

Working Conditions

• Part-time position (~10-20 hours/week); schedule can be arranged within standard weekday hours by mutual agreement with the PI.
• Work may be hybrid.

The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. By embracing diverse skills, perspectives and ideas, we choose to lead. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, military service, genetic information, and/or other status protected under law. We will ensure that all individuals with a disability are provided a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.