EPA Advancing Human Thyroid NAMs for Endocrine Disruption Screening

*Applications may be reviewed on a rolling-basis and this posting could close before the deadline.

EPA Office/Lab and Location: A research opportunity is currently available at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), located in Durham, North Carolina. The participant will receive training in a laboratory located in Research Triangle Park, NC office and travel to Washington, DC once a year for a debriefing.

The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment. EPA works to ensure that: Americans have clean air, land and water; National efforts to reduce environmental risks are based on the best available scientific information; Federal laws protecting human health and the environment are administered and enforced fairly, effectively and as Congress intended; Environmental stewardship is integral to U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy; All parts of society have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks; Contaminated lands and toxic sites are cleaned up; and chemicals in the marketplace are reviewed for safety.

Research Project: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) conducts solutions-driven research to rapidly evaluate the potential health hazards of environmental chemicals and accelerate the pace of chemical risk assessment. US EPA develops and implements in vitro and in silico new approach methods (NAMs) to avoid the use of animal testing and support regulatory decision making. There is regulatory need in the US EPA Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) to identify and evaluate chemicals that may disrupt the thyroid endocrine system. Thyroid NAMs are being developed and applied to increase data coverage across data poor chemicals using a tiered testing strategy, but validation of these methods is necessary to establish confidence for regulatory adoption. The objective of this project is to increase the confidence in applying and using data derived from human-based thyroid organotypic culture models (OCMs) to enable more robust assessments of thyroid disrupting chemicals. 

• Evaluate the inter-individual variability in a human organotypic thyroid assay to establish benchmarks and acceptance criteria.
• Define chemical training sets for the technical validation of human organotypic thyroid assays.
• Conduct an intra-laboratory validation study to support the standardization and performance assessment of a human organotypic thyroid assay.

Learning Objectives: 

• Gain engagement and leadership skills in the design and execution of experimental research in a toxicology laboratory setting.
• Develop technical proficiency in the use and implementation of laboratory automation technologies for high-throughput drug and chemical screening.
• Build expertise in computational toxicology approaches by leading data analysis efforts.
• Gain skills with active participation in project team, branch and division meetings.
• Gain skills with preparing presentations, internal reports and data summaries.
• Gain skills with presenting at scientific conferences.
• Gain skills with authoring manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Scott Lynn (lynn.scott@epa.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research please contact the mentor.

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: August 1, 2026. All start dates are flexible and vary depending on numerous factors. 

Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year and may be renewed three to four additional years upon EPA recommendation and subject to availability of funding.

Level of Participation: The appointment is full-time.

Participant Stipend: The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. The anticipated stipend range is $77,983 - $93,468 annually.

Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens only.

EPA Security Clearance: Completion of a successful background investigation by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is required for an applicant to be on-boarded at EPA.

ORISE Information: This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and EPA. Participants do not become employees of EPA, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.

ORISE offers all ORISE EPA graduate students and Postdocs a free 5 year membership to the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA).

The successful applicant(s) will be required to comply with Environmental, Safety and Health (ES&H) requirements of the hosting facility, including but not limited to, COVID-19 requirements (e.g. facial covering, physical distancing, testing, vaccination).

Questions: Please see the FAQ section of our website. After reading, if you have additional questions about the application process please email ORISE.EPA.Other@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.

Salary : $77,983 - $93,468