Agrilife Research

Postdoctoral Research Associate

College Station, TX · Contract

Sponsorship not specified$12k-$15kDetected 8 days ago

PythonLinuxComputer VisionA/B TestingBioinformaticsPCRqPCRMolecular BiologyResearchCollaborationMentoringAgronomy

About the role

With over 5,000 employees and a presence in every county across the state, Texas A&M AgriLife is uniquely positioned to improve lives, environments and the Texas economy through education, research, extension and service.
The position works alongside a Ph.D. student across the whole project.
Failure to provide all job application data or a complete resume could result in an invalid submission and a rejected application.

Design and execute field and controlled-environment pathology experiments, including inoculum-density gradient studies
Develop reproducible bioinformatic pipelines on Texas A&M HPRC resources
Maintain accurate lab records in both digital and hardcopy form, and ensure up-to-date lab safety documentation.
Lead and co-author manuscripts in scientific journals
assistance may also be sought in drafting extension documents.
Collaborate with USDA-ARS scientists.
Design and execute field and controlled-environment pathology experiments, including inoculum-density gradient studies; direct undergraduate research interns during field-sampling campaigns.
Develop reproducible bioinformatic pipelines on Texas A&M HPRC resources; prepare data, figures, and first- and co-authored manuscripts.
Lead and co-author manuscripts in scientific journals; assistance may also be sought in drafting extension documents.
design and run field and greenhouse pathogen experiments, drive the isolate-to-assembly-to-diagnostic-assay pipeline, and lead population-ecology and disease publications built on that genomic work.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
ability to grow microorganisms in pure culture and in interaction studies, including the soil-borne pathogens central to this project.
Ability to collect phenotypic data from plants (healthy, infected, and infested) in field and greenhouse settings.
Knowledge of laboratory maintenance and equipment.
Ability to multi-task and to work cooperatively with others across internal and external collaborations.
Experience in handling ONT data is required, and hands-on experience in running the Oxford Nanopore sequencer is desirable.
Experience in high-throughput culturomics is desirable.
Experience in, or interest in, laboratory automation will be an advantage.

Demonstrated field and/or greenhouse experimental experience in plant pathology or a closely related discipline.
Hands-on molecular biology (DNA extraction, library preparation, PCR/qPCR).
Experience handling Oxford Nanopore (ONT) sequence data.
A record of scientific productivity appropriate to career stage and strong written and oral communication.
As a field-demanding position, a current driver's license is required.
Prior formal experience is not required, but candidates are expected to use these tools in their work and to develop fluency with them on the job, with a strong emphasis on reproducibility and validation.
Experience with soil-borne pathogens of cotton or other row crops (fungal and nematodes).
Population genomics, microbiome analysis, or diagnostic assay (LAMP/qPCR/ddPCR) development.

Health, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance with Texas A&M AgriLife contributing to employee health and basic life premiums
Up to eight hours of paid sick leave and at least eight hours of paid vacation each month
Automatic enrollment in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Employee Wellness Initiative for Texas A&M AgriLife
Apply machine-learning and AI-assisted tools in genome analysis, population and disease-ecology work, and pipeline development, with attention to reproducibility and validation of results.

Click here to learn more about how you can be a part of AgriLife and make a difference in the world!

This listing is sourced directly from Agrilife Research's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.