A Postdoctoral Fellow position funded by AKC Canine Health Foundation is available to study the improvement of canine tick-borne disease diagnostics using next-generation sequencing in a collaborative, multi-disciplinary environment. This position will be expected to conduct analytical and experimental research in the area of computational biology/bioinformatics, with emphasis in data analysis of next-generation sequencing. This project is led by Dr. Diniz (http://goo.gl/eA6zHL) and Dr. Oakley (http://goo.gl/g8kX5z). The postdoctoral researcher’s development will be enhanced through structured mentoring activities to provide the skills, knowledge and experience to prepare him/her to excel in his/her career path. Western University of Health Sciences has a dynamic research environment where scientists with both academic and industry experience work collaboratively. The university is located 45 minutes from Los Angeles, in Southern California, with stunning natural diversity (beach, mountains, deserts, etc.), a vibrant multicultural society and a large and successful regional bioscience industry. Women and under-represented minorities are strongly encouraged to apply.
The individual must possess the following knowledge, skills, abilities and values or be able to explain and demonstrate that he/she can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation, using some other combination of skills and abilities:
• Demonstrated experience with the analysis of large-scale next-generation sequencing data.
• Proven familiarity with Linux computing environment and the statistical software R.
• Prior experience working in a high performance computing environment.
• Ability to work within time and budgetary constraints, solving scientific problems, and achieving team goals and milestones.
• Demonstrated capacity for effective oral and written communication of research results and their implications to a variety of audiences such as scientists and stakeholders.
• Demonstrate the following values: Excellence – be the best you can be; Imagination – challenge conventional thinking and pursue novel, ground-breaking ideas; Integrity – act fairly, ethically and respectfully; Courage – take initiative, be adventurous, creative and bold; Teamwork – collaborate openly and inclusively; Equity and Diversity – embrace equity, diversity and reconciliation.
Required Qualifications
Education: Ph.D. in bioinformatics, microbiology, microbial ecology, computational biology, infectious disease ecology, statistics or other related discipline.
Experience: a minimum of 2 years of experience in computational biology/bioinformatics, microbial ecology and a record of relevant publications in high-impact journals.
Salary will be commensurate with degree of advanced research training and experience.
Preferred qualifications
• Prior experience in microbiome analysis, metagenomics, and/or whole genome sequencing is particularly desirable.
• Ability to code in Perl, Python and/or shell scripts.
• Knowledge of biological systems, with experience in immunology/medical microbiology/diagnostics is particularly desirable.
• Laboratory experience in molecular biology research methodology (Spectrophotometry, DNA/RNA isolation, real-time PCR, etc.).
• Motivation for independent scientific work and development of bioinformatic tools and pipelines.