AcademicJobApplicationWorkshop
August30th,2016
AaronJohnson,PhD
AssistantProfessor
BiochemistryandMolecularGenetics
[email protected]
Overview
Decidingtopursueanacademicposition
•
• Wheretofindjobpostings
• TheApplicationPackage:Journeytothetopof
thepile
–
–
–
–
CoverLetter
CV
ResearchProposal
Teachingstatement
• Thenextsteps
– waiting
– interview
– negotiations
Decidingtopursueanacademicposition
• Isthiswhatyouwant?
• Timing
– 2-7yearsintoyourpostdoc
– recenthigh-impactpublication?
– recentcareerdevelopmentaward?(Kaward,etc.)
• Support—Youwillneedit
–
–
–
–
postdocmentor
collaborators
connections
family
• Alwayshaveabackupplan,lotsofcompetition
Wheretofindjobpostings
Nowisthe
beginningofan
Aug-Dec.Posting
Cycle
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org
205(worldwide),187(U.S.)AssistantProfessorpositionsinLife
Scienceasofyesterday
http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/
• ThePostdocOffice,especiallyforlocalfacultypositions
Wheretofindjobpostings
• Howmanypostingstoapplyto?
– From1-200,averageof50percycle
• Doyoucarewhereyoulive?
• Whattypesofinstitutionswouldyou
consider?
– MedSchool
– ResearchIUndergradCampus
– ResearchInstitute
– SmallCollegewithsomeresearchtimeprovided
TheApplicationPackage:Journey
tothetopofthepile
• Thesearchcommittee:yourfirstaudience
– asmallgroupwithoftenbroadinterests
– screeningoftenhundredsofapplications
– Ifyouknowsomeoneinthedepartmentyouare
applyingto,byallmeansgetintouchwiththem
andseeiftheyknowanythingaboutthegoalsof
thesearchormembersofthecommittee
TheApplicationPackage:Journey
tothetopofthepile
• Writingtips
– bebriefwhenyoucan– gettothepoint
– avoidsloppymistakes– havemultiplepeople
proof-readaswellascommentonthescience
– ifyouarenotanativeEnglishspeaker,getadvice
onthephrasingofthecoverletter,especially
– Usestronglanguage,forexample"Iwill..."rather
than"Ican..."whenpossible
TheApplicationPackage:The
CoverLetter
• Basiccoverletterforyourdreamjob
– Onepagetotal!
– BasicInformation
– Yourname,whatyouareapplyingfor,your
currentposition
– Pastpostdoctoralresearch:
Detailscanwaituntil
• Short,Punchy,Exciting!
CV/Proposal,etc.
• Addshortformatreferences (Jonesetal.,
2008Genes&Development)
• Don’tbemodest(withinreason)!
TheApplicationPackage:The
CoverLetter(Cont'd)
– Futureplans – Whyaretheynovel?
– Specialcircumstances(grantmoneyyoualready
canbringwithyou,specific,extendedtimelineto
finishyourpostdoc,the“twobody”issueofa
spouselookingforafacultypositionaswellshould
belefttoalatertime,unlessbychanceyouare
bothapplyingtothesamejobposting.
TheApplicationPackage:TheCV
• Notthesameasaresume(youdon’tneedtodefine
yourskillsetexplicitly,forexample.Everything
belowshouldspeaktoyourskills).
• NameandWorkAddress,CurrentDepartment
• AcademicHistory
• Listallprofessional(andonlyrelevant)positions.
Everyyearaftercollegeaccountedfor,ifpossible,
withsomeprofessionalexperience.
• Listallhonorsandawards,startingwithcollege.
• Currentfunding(pastgoesintheawardscategory)
•
TheApplicationPackage:TheCV
(cont'd)
Publications
– Newestatthetop
– Yournameinboldandunderlined
• Don’tswitchauthorposition(evenifco-firstauthors).
Insteadnoteallcoauthorship designations.
– NoteManuscriptssubmittedorinpress,includeacopy
inapplication,whereappropriate
– Limitmanuscripts“InPreparation”tothosethatare
nearsubmissionthatyouhavealreadypresentedthe
datainpublic.
– Updateyourapplicationaftersubmittingtheoriginal
bysendinginarecentlyacceptedpublicationthatisof
majorsignificancetoyourcareer.
•
TheApplicationPackage:TheCV
(cont'd)
• Invited Talks(noposterpresentations)
• Teachingexperiencelist(placethisinamoreprominent
positionforateaching-heavyposition,especiallyifyou
haveconcretecourseteachingtolist)
• Universityserviceduringgradschoolandpostdoc
(committees,leadershipoforganizations)
• LettersofReference(3-5names,dependingonthe
applicationinstructions.Don’tprovidenamesforpeople
whoarenotsubmittingaletterforthisapplication).
TheApplicationPackage:
ResearchProposal
• FollowPagelimit!!3pagemaximum(thisisalmost
alwaysthecase).Don’tpackittoofull.Makeit
digestible.Thecommitteeisprobablyreadinghundreds.
• NoneedforaReferencesection.Limitreferencesin
general(exceptforyourownwork)anduseshorthandintextreferencingonly.
• ***Usecartoonsandsimplefigurestobreakuptextand
letthepicturesspeaktoyourgoals.Agoodruleistwo
figuresperpage,onaverage.Strategizingthisrightcan
makeyourspecificworkclickwithavarietyofcommittee
membersandgetyourapplicationnoticed.Make
somethingthatiseye-catching.***
Aaron Johnson
Sample
Page
AIM 2: Use reconstituted heterochromatin as a platform to comprehensively define a chromatin domain.
My postdoctoral work has uncovered a correlation between the structure of yeast heterochromatin and the
silencing function. Can this chromatin superstructure be specifically recognized by nuclear machinery that contribute to
its regulation? These questions will be tackled in the context of comprehensively analyzing proteins associated with yeast
heterochromatin. The reconstituted yeast heterochromatin will serve as a platform to build a complete heterochromatic
domain and identify factors by comparative mass
spectrometry that specifically associate with
heterochromatin and not euchromatin (Fig 4). The
heterochromatin structure will be disrupted by histone
modification to determine if the proper superstructure
itself is required to recruit such factors.
Proteins found to associate with the
heterochromatic domain will be analyzed to
determine the specific role that they play in heterochromatic silencing. These analyses will determine: localization to
heterochromatic domains in vivo by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), silencing defects when deleted, and
contribution to in vitro SIR-dependent repression.
AIM 3: Determine the mechanism and function of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) incorporation into human
heterochromatin domains.
(a.) Is a ncRNA-associated chromatin template sufficient to assemble a heterochromatin domain?
Recent work has identified a host of long ncRNAs in humans that appear to associate specifically with
heterochromatin factors. Some of these lncRNAs have been identified as contributing
to cancer-associated pathways such as metastasis (Gupta et al., Nature, 2010) and the
p53 response (Huarte et al., Cell, 2010). LncRNAs play an integral role in targeting of
the factors in these pathways to genomic loci, far from the site of their transcription.
Presently, there are only hints as to the mechanism of action of these
lncRNAs that work in trans. It has not been shown whether these RNAs physically
associate with chromatin at the target locus and whether their presence is sufficient to
trigger formation of a repressive chromatin domain. To address this question directly,
work in my lab will construct lncRNA-associated chromatin domains in vitro and
analyze the requirements for recruitment of heterochromatin factors and histone
modifications from human nuclear extracts (Fig 5). After establishing the
requirements of lncRNA-associated heterochromatin formation, efforts will begin to comprehensively characterize these
domains as in Aims 1 and 2.
(b.) Genomic profiling of lncRNA localization.
The relative abundance of certain cancer-associated lncRNAs and the fact that knockdown has effects on gene
expression in multiple locations within the genome, suggests that they
may be physically associated with many regions of chromatin to carry
out their function. A lncRNA construct with an RNA tag will be
transfected into cells and affinity-purification will isolate lncRNAassociated chromatin fragments which will be analyzed by highthroughput sequencing (Fig 6). This method will provide a powerful
tool to identify the specific targets of lncRNAs, as well as provide
direct evidence of trans-acting lncRNA incorporation into heterochromatin. The tagged-RNA construct will be
manipulated to determine the requirements of the RNA sequence and structure for chromatin incorporation and targeting.
(c.) Identification of ncRNAs associated with different varieties of heterochromatin
Many recent lncRNAs have been identified by their association with the PRC2 histone modifying enzyme (HME)
complex that methylates histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27Me). Another silent mark, H3K9Me, is largely absent in
developmental loci where H3K27Me is the dominant histone mark. H3K9Me-dependent silencing is thought to be
mediated in some cases by lncRNA action. To identify new candidates of trans-acting lncRNAs that interact with
H3K9Me-associatd heterochromatin, chromatin immunoprecipitation for H3K9Me will be performed and the associated
RNAs will be sequenced. RNA hits will be compared versus transcription profiles to identify RNAs that are physically
associated with a silent region of the genome, yet are derived from an open reading frame bearing histone marks of active
transcription. Newly identified ncRNAs will be analyzed as in Subaim 3a and 3b.
TheApplicationPackage:
ResearchProposal(cont'd)
• Intro(~20%) – Excitethegeneralreader – Showbroad
perspective – Openquestionsandchallengesinthefieldthatyou
havealltherighttrainingandideastoaddress– Medicalrelevance,
e.g.
• Pastwork(~30%) – Skipgraduateworkunlessitrelatestoyour
currentresearch.Brief,andemphasizenovelty.Addreferencesto
yourworkinthetext.Don’tforgetaveryinformativegraphicto
summarize.
• FuturePlans(~50%).~3Broadaims.5yearplan:Creative,
interesting,important,feasible(foryouinparticular).
• Mentionlong-termvision.
Makesureyoupaintabigger
picturethanasinglegrantwould
Addressfeasibility,ifapplyingtoa
smallschoolwithlimitedresources
TheApplicationPackage:
TeachingStatement
• TeachingStatement
- Thismayberequestedforanypositionwithateaching
component,thoughtheweightitwillbegivenvariesgreatly.
- Halfapageformostapplicationsissufficient.Ifyouhave
extensiveteachingexperience,thiscanfillouttoonepage.
- Ageneralteachingphilosophyispartofwhattheyareafter.
Demonstratingthatyoutakeclassroomteachingseriously.
- Suggestafewtopics,generalandspecific(asinacourse
numberfromthecatalogoftheinstitution),thatwouldbeofinterest
toyoutoteach.Andsuggestacoursethatyouwouldbeexcitedto
developthatmaynotyetexistinthecatalog.