Postdoctoral Research Associate (tamus)

Job Description

Agency

Department

JOB IS FROM: postdocjobs.oneVIEW

Job Responsibilities

● Baiting and culturing hyphosphere bacteria from Fusarium wilt tissues.

● Maintenance of hyphosphere bacteria through consecutive generations.

● Conducting research utilizing both culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches to study fungal-bacterial interactions in the hyphosphere.

● Cultivating bacteria and fungi using traditional agar-plate methods and high-throughput techniques (e.g., Prospector Isolation Bio).

● Developing innovative methods to study fungal-bacterial interactions in the hyphosphere and hyphal highways.

● Analyzing microbiome data using multiple-omics tools, including genomics, metabarcoding, and microscopic imaging.

● Conducting advanced statistical analyses, especially those relevant to microbiomes and rhizosphere.

● Travel to the field to collect soil and tissue samples.

● Mentoring and training graduate and undergraduate students in microbiology and microbial ecological experimentation.

● Maintaining laboratory records and ensuring up-to-date lab safety documentation.

● Preparing manuscripts for publication in scientific journals.

● Completing other duties relevant to the project as required.

Required Education and Experience:

● Ph.D. in a related field (microbial ecology, microbiology, plant pathology, etc.).

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

● Ability to work in a collaborative research environment, to multitask and work cooperatively with others.

● Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

● Ability to drive a truck.

● Ability to travel and collect field samples from around the state.

Preferred knowledge, skills and abilities:

●Knowledge and/or hands-on experience in preparing libraries for sequencing.

● In-depth conceptual and practical knowledge of aseptic microbiology.
● Expertise in growing cotton in the greenhouse, growth chamber, and field, and infecting with soil-borne pathogens (especially Fusarium).
● Proficiency in data analysis relevant to microbiome research, including taxonomic diversity and functional annotations.

● Ability to perform necessary statistical analyses and model synthesis, including network analyses for taxonomic and functional data.

●Knowledge and/or hands-on experience in running Nanopore Minion and Illumina (MiSeq/HiSeq) sequencers.

●Knowledge and/or hands-on experience in setting up hyphosphere and/or hyphal highway experiments.

● Experience in field sampling of soils and plants for microbiome assessments.
● Publication record in hyphosphere microbiomes, especially with fungal pathogens.
● Expertise in one or multiple omics methods relevant to the project, such as metabarcoding (16S rRNA), genomics (assembly and annotations), and soil metabolomics.
● Demonstrated experience in the microbial culture of bacteria and fungi, including growing microorganisms in both pure culture and in interactions.
● Experience or interest in laboratory automation.

All positions are security-sensitive. Applicants are subject to a criminal history investigation, and employment is contingent upon the institution’s verification of credentials and/or other information required by the institution’s procedures, including the completion of the criminal history check.

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Veterans/Disability Employer.