A collaborative postdoctoral training position is available, offered jointly by the Department of Environmental Science and Technology (ENST) University of Maryland at College Park and the Sustainable Agriculture Systems Lab located on the 8000 acre USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in suburban Washington DC. The successful candidate will be fluent with advanced bioinformatics approaches to genome assembly, RNA-seq, environmental metagenomics, microbial community analysis. QUIIME, velvet, R, Uni-frac, bio-conductor. Primary responsibilities will include an experiment examining plant microbe interactions in the soil/rhizosphere environment in a long- term farming systems study site. A RNA-seq approach will be taken to asses the meta-transcriptome in bulk and rhizosphere soils, coupled data will include transcriptional analysis of Corn and Soybean roots, plant health assessments and complete environmental characterization. This experiment is part of a data rich long-term agricultural research site with many nested treatments available to collect meta-data from. There will be opportunities to co-author on at least four other on-going next generation sequencing projects
The labs sponsoring this position are generally interested in environmental microbial ecology and interactions between below ground ecology and ecosystem functionality. We engage in a variety of research themes that link the research areas of biogeochemistry, agroecology, environmental sustainability and plant microbe interaction. Candidates should have or be close to obtaining a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in bioinformatics, computational biology, computer science, molecular biology, or a closely related field. Candidates with a background in soil microbial ecology, metagenomics and plant microbe interactions are especially encouraged to apply. Programming skills and experience in the application of computational methods to genomic data are highly desirable. Applicants must possess good communication skills and be fluent in both spoken and written English. The ability to learn how to use new software and quickly become expert in its use, critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and the ability to work semi-independently are required. The funding for this position is stable and offers the trainee wide latitude in the design and pursuit of their research project. The successful candidate will have access to collaborate with USDAs Biovine Functional Genomics bioinformatics core facility (illumina, bioanalizer,) as well as an in-house Roche 454 sequencer. Interested applicants with further questions can email Dr. Jude Maul ([email protected]) or Dr. Stephanie Yarwood ([email protected]). Applicants can apply at jobs.umd.edu, Posting # 118889.
