Postdoctoral Research Associate in Human Oral Microbiome : Oak Ridge, TN, United States

Purpose
The Biosciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is seeking a postdoctoral research associate in the area of human microbiome research. The selected candidate will join a group of microbiologists, microbial ecologists and bioinformaticians led by Dr. Mircea Podar, to apply classical microbiological, genomic and technological concepts to study the human oral microbiome in health and disease.

Major Duties / Responsibilities
Design, conduct and interpret laboratory research aimed at cultivating novel groups of bacteria from the human oral microbiota, using genomic information and applying a wide range of techniques and approaches (including flow cytometry, optical tweezers, robotics). Study the diversity of bacteria in human oral microbiome samples using amplicon, single cell genomic and metagenomic sequencing. Analyze genomic and metagenomic data and apply towards improving cultivation and physiological studies. Study the interaction between organisms using advanced cultivation systems, biofilm imaging and similar approaches. Research is facilitated by a full range of state-of-the-art equipment/facilities for microbiology, molecular biology, and genomics, in a professional environment with excellent technical support.

Qualifications
Qualifications Required: Ph.D. degree in microbiology, molecular biology, or related field. Applicant should have demonstrated expertise in anaerobic microbiology, with preference to human-associated organisms, general molecular biology techniques and concepts. Demonstrated skills in setting up microbial batch and continuous cultivation systems that use biofilms, bio-imaging and metabolic monitoring are required.

Qualifications Preferred: Priority will be given to applicants with a successful history of interdisciplinary, integrative, and innovative research in this area. Familiarity with analyzing microbial and/or metagenomic data, Linux-based software tools for next generation DNA sequence analysis of rRNA and metagenomic microbial datasets as well as the ability to program and script in R, Python or Perl to customize such analyses would also be preferred.