Description

Pennington Biomedical Research Center, a world-renowned academic research institute of Louisiana State University, is seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Human Performance Optimization Laboratory.

The Center for Human Performance at Pennington Biomedical Research Center invites applications for a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical and translational research. The successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary research team and contribute to the development of a newly established center focused on advancing evidencebased strategies to optimize health and performance under conditions of extreme physiological and cognitive stress. Building on nearly four decades of collaborative research with the U.S. Department of Defense, the center aims to expand the scope and impact of Pennington Biomedical’s human performance research portfolio through integrative investigations across nutrition, exercise physiology, pharmacology, and emerging technologies. These efforts are directed toward reducing injury risk, mitigating deconditioning, and enhancing operational readiness in highdemand populations, including astronauts, military personnel, and first responders.

This fellowship will provide structured mentorship and training in clinical and translational research with a specific focus on skeletal muscle function under stress. Training will emphasize critical evaluation of the literature, clinical trial design and management, rigorous data analysis, and scientific writing for peerreviewed publications and extramural funding applications. The fellow will develop advanced expertise in the assessment of muscle metabolism using stableisotope tracer methodologies, and in evaluating how targeted dietary interventions (e.g., protein and amino acids), pharmacologic agents, and exercise countermeasures influence muscle adaptation to stress. As a core component of the fellowship, the fellow will analyze existing datasets and conduct secondary analyses from ongoing or completed studies to generate publications and support competitive funding and collaborative research efforts aimed at preserving and enhancing muscle performance in extreme environments.

Major Responsibilities

• Design and conduct research on human subjects to investigate physiological mechanisms underlying performance, resilience, and recovery in response to exercise, nutrition, and environmental stressors.
• Develop and evaluate multidisciplinary interventions aimed at optimizing human performance, reducing injury risk, and mitigating physiological deconditioning.
• Collect, manage, and analyze complex datasets using appropriate statistical and analytical software.
• Prepare high-quality manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed scientific journals.
• Contribute to the development of competitive grant proposals for external funding from agencies such as the NIH, DoD, and NASA.
• Mentor and supervise students and research staff, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and productive research environment.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• PhD in Nutritional Sciences, Physiology, Kinesiology, Biomedical Sciences, Exercise Science, or a related field.
• Two (2) or more years of research experience in nutrition, metabolism, exercise physiology, or clinical research.  
• Demonstrated expertise in human clinical research design and execution.  
• Strong foundational knowledge of muscle physiology, e.g., protein turnover, molecular biology, biomedical imaging, and physiological responses to exercise, nutrition, and environmental stress.
• History of independent and collaborative research, with a minimum of five peer-reviewed academic publications.
• Proven experience with human subject research, including compliance with Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocols.
• Proficiency in experimental design, data collection, and statistical analysis.
• Excellent scientific writing and communication skills.
   

Preferred Qualifications 

• Expertise in stable isotope methodologies; amino acid metabolism; dietary protein research; foundational molecular biology and protein analysis techniques; and multi-omics approaches.
• Experience conducting research in extreme environments relevant to military operations or spaceflight is highly desirable.