What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Scientist-Psychiatry Dr. Kaji position at Mount Sinai Health System?
Description
The laboratory studies human brain development and neuropsychiatric disease using stem cell–derived organoids and primary fetal tissue. Current projects focus on:
Responsibilities
Educational and other Requirements for the position:
Strength through Unity and Inclusion
The Mount Sinai Health System is committed to fostering an environment where everyone can contribute to excellence. We share a common dedication to delivering outstanding patient care. When you join us, you become part of Mount Sinai’s unparalleled legacy of achievement, education, and innovation as we work together to transform healthcare. We encourage all team members to actively participate in creating a culture that ensures fair access to opportunities, promotes inclusive practices, and supports the success of every individual.
At Mount Sinai, our leaders are committed to fostering a workplace where all employees feel valued, respected, and empowered to grow. We strive to create an environment where collaboration, fairness, and continuous learning drive positive change, improving the well-being of our staff, patients, and organization. Our leaders are expected to challenge outdated practices, promote a culture of respect, and work toward meaningful improvements that enhance patient care and workplace experiences. We are dedicated to building a supportive and welcoming environment where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and advance professionally. Explore this opportunity and be part of the next chapter in our history.
About The Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 48,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it. Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes more than 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics, top 5 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, and top 20 in Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is ranked No. 11 nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding and in the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Newsweek’s “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals” ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and in the top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside in the top 20 globally.
Equal Opportunity Employer
The Mount Sinai Health System is an equal opportunity employer, complying with all applicable federal civil rights laws. We do not discriminate, exclude, or treat individuals differently based on race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are deeply committed to fostering an environment where all faculty, staff, students, trainees, patients, visitors, and the communities we serve feel respected and supported. Our goal is to create a healthcare and learning institution that actively works to remove barriers, address challenges, and promote fairness in all aspects of our organization.
Compensation
The Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) provides salary ranges that comply with the New York City Law on Salary Transparency in Job Advertisements. The salary range for the role is $58661 - $125008.22 Annually. Actual salaries depend on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and operational need. The salary range or contractual rate listed does not include bonuses/incentive, differential pay or other forms of compensation or benefits.
The laboratory studies human brain development and neuropsychiatric disease using stem cell–derived organoids and primary fetal tissue. Current projects focus on:
- Defining how radial glia give rise to hippocampal and neocortical lineages, and identifying signaling pathways (e.g., Wnt and beyond) that govern hippocampal subfield specification
- Building and characterizing human hippocampal organoid systems, including efforts to engineer missing subfields (e.g., CA1/CA3/DG)
- Identifying conserved molecular and cellular programs across genetic and pharmacologic models of schizophrenia using large-scale single-cell and multiomic datasets
- Modeling neurodevelopmental contributions to schizophrenia through perturbation systems, including chronic and acute NMDA receptor inhibition (e.g., ketamine exposure)
- Developing scalable perturbation platforms (e.g., inducible CRISPRa/i systems) to systematically interrogate candidate regulatory pathways emerging from integrative analyses
Responsibilities
- Design, optimization, and execution of hiPSC culture, reprogramming, and differentiation workflows
- Generation and maintenance of 3D brain organoids (neocortical and hippocampal), including protocol development for patterning and subfield specification
- Implementation and standardization of signaling perturbation paradigms (e.g., Wnt modulation, small molecules, growth factors)
- Development of inducible genetic perturbation systems (e.g., CRISPRa/i, doxycycline-regulated constructs)
- Processing of organoid and fetal tissue samples for downstream applications, including:
- single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq)
- single-nucleus ATAC sequencing (snATAC-seq)
- multiome assays
- spatial transcriptomics
- Organoid characterization using:
- immunohistochemistry and confocal imaging
- structural analysis of rosettes and laminar organization
- Establishment and enforcement of standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure reproducibility and quality control across experiments
- Evaluation and implementation of laboratory automation platforms to increase throughput and consistency
- Supervision and training of research staff; coordination of day-to-day laboratory operations
- Close collaboration with computational scientists to iteratively refine experimental design based on multiomic analyses
Educational and other Requirements for the position:
- Ph.D. in stem cell biology, developmental biology, neuroscience, or a related field
- Significant experience working with human pluripotent stem cells (hESCs or hiPSCs)
- Demonstrated expertise in organoid systems or complex differentiation platforms
- Strong background in experimental design, assay development, and troubleshooting
- Excellent organizational and leadership skills, with the ability to manage multiple parallel projects
- Interest in building scalable, reproducible research systems rather than executing isolated experiments
- Extensive experience in iPSC culture, reprogramming, and lineage-specific differentiation
- Proven track record of developing or optimizing complex biological workflows
- Experience with genome engineering approaches (e.g., CRISPR/Cas9, inducible systems)
- Familiarity with single-cell or spatial genomics workflows (sample preparation level)
- Experience establishing SOPs and quality control pipelines in a research or core facility setting
- Prior experience supervising personnel or managing shared research resources is strongly preferred
- Experience with laboratory automation platforms is highly desirable
Strength through Unity and Inclusion
The Mount Sinai Health System is committed to fostering an environment where everyone can contribute to excellence. We share a common dedication to delivering outstanding patient care. When you join us, you become part of Mount Sinai’s unparalleled legacy of achievement, education, and innovation as we work together to transform healthcare. We encourage all team members to actively participate in creating a culture that ensures fair access to opportunities, promotes inclusive practices, and supports the success of every individual.
At Mount Sinai, our leaders are committed to fostering a workplace where all employees feel valued, respected, and empowered to grow. We strive to create an environment where collaboration, fairness, and continuous learning drive positive change, improving the well-being of our staff, patients, and organization. Our leaders are expected to challenge outdated practices, promote a culture of respect, and work toward meaningful improvements that enhance patient care and workplace experiences. We are dedicated to building a supportive and welcoming environment where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and advance professionally. Explore this opportunity and be part of the next chapter in our history.
About The Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 48,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it. Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes more than 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics, top 5 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, and top 20 in Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is ranked No. 11 nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding and in the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Newsweek’s “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals” ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and in the top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside in the top 20 globally.
Equal Opportunity Employer
The Mount Sinai Health System is an equal opportunity employer, complying with all applicable federal civil rights laws. We do not discriminate, exclude, or treat individuals differently based on race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are deeply committed to fostering an environment where all faculty, staff, students, trainees, patients, visitors, and the communities we serve feel respected and supported. Our goal is to create a healthcare and learning institution that actively works to remove barriers, address challenges, and promote fairness in all aspects of our organization.
Compensation
The Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) provides salary ranges that comply with the New York City Law on Salary Transparency in Job Advertisements. The salary range for the role is $58661 - $125008.22 Annually. Actual salaries depend on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and operational need. The salary range or contractual rate listed does not include bonuses/incentive, differential pay or other forms of compensation or benefits.
Salary : $58,661 - $125,008