23andMe Postdoc Program

Overview

At 23andMe, our mission is to help people access, understand, and benefit from the human genome. Our postdoc program speaks to our values by conducting research that allows people to benefit from the human genome. Qualified postdocs leading innovative projects can help push our mission forward, translating great research into great discovery.

As a leading consumer genetics and research company, 23andMe has accumulated the world’s largest database of genotypic and phenotypic information. This data has led to over 200 publications to date and enables our Therapeutics team to discover and develop new treatments that can offer significant benefits to patients with serious, unmet medical needs.

Key Facts

23andMe’s postdoc program is a 2 or 3 year training program depending on the role, with some specific positions having the option of an additional year.
The program is entirely funded.
The program aims to prepare the postdoc for a successful research career in academia or industry.
23andMe postdocs will work on science related to diseases of unmet medical need alongside our scientists.
Postdocs will be highly encouraged to and supported in publishing their research in peer-reviewed journals and presenting their work externally at scientific meetings.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for a 23andMe postdoc position, you must have completed a PhD in a STEM field.

Recruiting Timeline

Check our Careers page for open postdoc positions.

Current Research Postdocs and Mentors

Genetic and environmental characteristics of 'Long COVID'	Since the start of the pandemic, 23andMe has emerged as a leader in understanding genetic and environmental contributions to COVID-19 risk. To date, over 1.5 million individuals have completed our COVID-19 baseline survey, and over 105K have completed our long COVID survey. While we have already published our genetic findings for COVID-19 susceptibility in top level journals (Nature Genetics), there is more to discover. As the pandemic enters this new stage, the focus of the scientific and clinical community shifts to “long COVID”-- chronic, often debilitating sequelae of the acute infection. We currently have in-depth symptomology and disease severity data on tens of thousands of long COVID cases. Due to the chronic nature of long COVID and potential application to other post-viral illnesses-- including many “mystery diagnoses” in the immune space-- this area of inquiry could be a fruitful source of descriptive and genetic discoveries.
Postdoc: Ninad Chaudhary	Ninad joined 23andMe in 2023 as a postdoctoral research fellow studying long COVID. Prior to joining 23andMe, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston where he conducted research on the genetics of cardiometabolic traits using population-based consortium studies. He earned his Doctorate in Medicine from Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, MPH in Community Health from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Mentor: Stella Aslibekyan	Stella joined 23andMe in 2018. She is involved in study design, data collection, and statistical analyses of 23andMe phenotypes. Previously, Stella was an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama and a principal investigator on several NIH- and foundation-supported grants, focusing on genetic and environmental factors in the etiology of cardiovascular disease. She earned her PhD in epidemiology at Brown University.
Parkinson Disease Research Program	In 2009, 23andMe launched the Parkinson Disease Research Program with the goal of jump-starting the world’s largest study in the disease. Today, we have the genetic information of 30K+ customers with Parkinson disease, we provide 2 FDA-reports to inform customers whether they are carriers of two pathogenic dominant variants linked to Parkinson Disease, and have contributed to over 30+ publications. Our 2 post-docs are funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation to analyze data collected in past collaborative studies. Our focus of our first project is to identify people on the brink of Parkinson disease and better understand who is at risk of developing dementia, using longitudinal data of our customers collected within the Fox Insight and 23andMe databases. The focus of our second project is to describe the microbial signature of Parkinson disease, by studying the stool and oral microbiome samples in our customers. Both projects will integrate phenotypic and genotypic data to understand the role of our genes in Parkinson disease.
Phenotypic and genotypic longitudinal analysis in Parkinson disease Postdoc: Matt Kmiecik	Matt joined 23andMe in 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow working with the Parkinson's Disease (PD) team to understand the genotypic and phenotypic markers of PD progression. He is a Chicagoland native who completed his undergraduate degree in Psychology at Loyola University Chicago and a PhD in Cognition and Neuroscience at The University of Texas at Dallas. Prior to joining 23andMe, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pain research at NorthShore University HealthSystem/The University of Chicago where he studied how multimodal sensory sensitivity conveys greater risk for developing chronic pelvic pain.
The microbiome in Parkinson disease Postdoc: Keaton Stagaman	Keaton joined 23andMe in 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow researching the connection between Parkinson's disease and the gut microbiome. He completed his undergraduate degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and his PhD in Host-microbe ecology at the University of Oregon. Previous postdoctoral work at Oregon State University included studying the connections between the microbiome and behavioral outcomes.
Mentor: Lucy Kaufmann	Lucy joined 23andMe in 2022 as the Principal Scientist for the Parkinson’s Disease Program. Previously, she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine. She spent 15-years studying the non-motor features of Parkinson disease in the prodromal phases. She has published 100+ research articles, as well as reviews and book chapters. She gained her PhD in Cardiovascular Physiology at the University of Leeds, England.
Complex disease in cohorts of non-European ancestry Team: Research	23andMe has one of the largest non-European BioBanks in the world as nearly 2.5 million of our research participants have substantial non-European ancestry. Currently, the majority of published genetic studies are focused on cohorts of European ancestry, which not only limits understanding of genetics underlying complex diseases but also perpetuates health disparities. Through analyzing 23andMe’s large scale genetics and deep phenotype data, we are able to provide novel insights about complex disease and will help promote health equity for underrepresented populations. We are looking for a postdoc fellow to join us on this exciting research project.
Co-Mentor: Wei Wang	Wei joined 23andMe in 2018 and is responsible for developing and implementing statistical and machine learning methods for analyzing 23andMe’s genomic and phenotypic data. Prior to 23andMe, Wei received his PhD in Statistics from the University of Chicago, where his research focused on statistical methods on dimension reduction, graphical model and predictive model.
Co-Mentor: Yunxuan Jiang	Yunxuan joined 23andMe in 2017. She is responsible for developing and implementing novel methodologies to get insights from 23andMe’s genetic database. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Emory University, where her research focused on developing statistical methods for next generation sequencing studies.

Past Postdoc Project Examples

Ancestry R&D Postdoc, Kasia Bryc: 2013-2014	The goals of my postdoctoral research at 23andMe were to understand how genetically inferred ancestry compares with self-reported ancestry, and better understand the patterns of ancestry across the United States. The dataset comprised of 23andMe customers who have consented to participate in research has allowed for a more continuous geographic study of individuals from across the United States, to create a genetic portrait that illustrates some of the complex cultural and social history of America, to illuminate the role of ancestry and admixture in shaping human genetic variation. Publication
Genomics R&D Postdoc, Karl Heilbron: 2016-2019	23andMe had genotyped more than 19,000 people with a self-reported diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Thanks in part to collaborations with the Michael J. Fox Foundation, my role was to mine this unique resource, establish a network of academic collaborators, and publish my findings. Publication
Ancestry R&D Postdoc, Éadaoin Harney: 2020-2022	My research focuses on developing an approach to identify connections shared between present-day people in 23andMe’s massive genetic database and historical populations using ancient DNA.

Diving in with a Postdoc - An Interview with Karl Heilbron

What were some of the highlights and challenges of being a postdoc at 23andMe?
- Highlights: It was so much fun to work with 23andMe data. You have the opportunity to take the largest database of its kind and work with it, which is a dream come true for a data scientist. It was a perfect fit for me right after school.
- Challenges: I was the only analyst at the time focused on Parkinson’s disease. Most of the people I interacted with were doing broad methods that applied to all traits, so I didn’t have a large technical community of people that knew Parkinson’s literature very well. I have to supplement this with a lot of reading.
- Overall, the goods vastly outweighed the bads.
What was the culture like?
- I would describe it as very vibrant and fun. 23andMe is a great sized company where it’s not so large that it’s impersonal. As a company, 23andMe puts a lot of emphasis on culture. We’ve worked really hard to make sure that there are ways to get to know your colleagues and I’ve made a lot of very good friends at 23andMe. I was slightly apprehensive about leaving academia and coming to industry. I was pleasantly surprised by how similar the culture at 23andMe was to an academic culture. Everyone who does data analysis came from academia typically right before joining 23andMe, so it was a gentle transition. There are stereotypes about industry being cutthroat but I found it to be extremely collaborative.
How did your 23andMe postdoc project prepare you for your current job?
- My PhD was half wet lab and half on the computer. By moving to 23andMe where I was fully on the computer, I learned a ton of skills around working with big data and a high performance computing environment. After my postdoc, I was qualified to work in a variety of fields as a data analyst on a large scale.
Anything else you’d like a future postdoc to know?
- You’re only going to get out of this role what you put into this role, so don’t be shy about asking questions. It will help you grow.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Diversity, equity, and inclusion at 23andMe fosters a workplace that embodies respect and transparency, helps us empower one another, and provides access to opportunity for everyone. Learn how you will experience diversity, equity, and inclusion at 23andMe.

Applying

How do I apply?

Apply through our careers page. Click the open listing and scroll to the “apply now” button.

How will applications be evaluated?

23andMe has all postdoc projects approved prior to hiring. Positions will include work in labs, data science, computational biology, or translational biology. All applicants will be evaluated on their prior experience and fit for the incoming year’s projects.

Are international candidates eligible to apply?

All applicants are encouraged to apply.