The Gibbs Lab (https://u.osu.edu/gibbslab/) in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University has an opening for a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Vertebrate Conservation Genetics. The postdoc will work on ongoing projects assessing levels of adaptive variation in populations of endangered Massasauga Rattlesnakes (Sistrurus catenatus) There is flexibility in terms of the specific project on which the postdoc will focus but will involve one or more of the following: 1) Development of new genetic tools based transcriptome analysis and DNA capture arrays to assess population variation in immune system genes 2) Analysis of existing data on population level variation in venom genes to infer how recent population bottlenecks have influenced levels of variation 3) Analyses of genomic-scale data using demographic modeling techniques to infer population histories (see Sovic et al. 2016. Heredity 117: 358-366).  The position is funded through the Ohio Biodiversity Conservation Partnership (https://obcp.osu.edu) and will involve interactions with the Ohio Division of Wildlife personnel. The postdoc will join an active lab with ongoing NSF-funded research on venom evolution in snakes and other projects on vertebrate conservation genetics.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• PhD in evolutionary biology, molecular biology, conservation genetics, bioinformatics or a related field
• Expertise in population genetics, evolutionary genetics, or molecular evolution
• Fluency in a programming language such as Perl or Python
• Record of publication

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience with analysis of NGS sequence data
• Experience with demographic modeling using high performance computing resources

START DATE AND DURATION

The position is available 1 September 2017. The initial appointment is for one year with the possibility of reappointment for multiple additional years pending satisfactory performance. Salary is $47.5K with full benefits.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested candidates should send the following to H. Lisle Gibbs (gibbs.128@osu.edu): 1) a CV, 2) Statement of research interests and how current professional abilities match possible project goals, 3) Names and contact information for three references. Review of applications will start 7 January 2017 with interviews taking place in February. I hope to offer the position to a candidate by March 2017.

ABOUT COLUMBUS

The Ohio State University campus is located in Columbus, the capital city of Ohio. Columbus is the center of a rapidly growing and diverse metropolitan area with a population of over 1.5 million. The area offers a wide range of affordable housing, many cultural and recreational opportunities, excellent schools, and a strong economy based on government as well as service, transportation and technology industries (see http://liveworkplaycolumbus.com/). Columbus has consistently been rated as one of the Top U.S. cities for quality of life, and was selected as one of the Top 10 cities for African Americans to live, work, and play by Black Enterprise magazine. Additional information about the Columbus area is available at http://www.columbus.org.

The Ohio State University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation or identity, national origin, disability status, or protected veteran status.

The Gibbs Lab was one of multiple labs recently awarded a NSF Dimensions of Biodiversity (US) – FAPESP BIOTA (Brazil) grant to study venom evolution in venomous snakes from North, Central and South America (NSF Abstract). The grant is a collaboration between research groups at Florida State University (Darin Rokyta), University of Central Florida (Chris Parkinson), Instituto Butantan (Inacio Azevedo, Ana Moura, and Erika Hingst-Zaher) and USP (Hussan Zaher).

The Gibbs Lab in the Department of EEOB at Ohio State University is interested in recruiting a Ph.D. student, to begin in Fall 2017, to develop a dissertation project that focuses on the molecular basis of coevolution between venomous snakes and their prey. The student would be part of a group conducting collaborative research to identify the genetic, protein and functional basis of the traits that mediate interactions between rattlesnakes and their mammalian prey in an ecological context (for example, see Holding et al. 2016. Proc R Soc B 283:20152841) with the specific focus of the dissertation being flexible depending on the research interests of the student. The student would also have the opportunity to be involved in a recently-awarded NSF Dimensions of Biodiversity grant on snake venom evolution that involves collaborations between institutions in the US and Brazil.

The ideal applicant would have prior research in population genetics or molecular ecology, molecular laboratory skills, strong quantitative skills and proficiency or interest in learning basic bioinformatics. Field experience with vertebrates would be beneficial. A Master’s degree is preferred but not required.

The student would join an active lab which applies genomic techniques and bioinformatics analyses to a wide range of questions in the evolutionary biology and conservation genetics of snakes, birds, and salamanders. The Department of EEOB provides year-round financial support (~ $28K/yr plus benefits and tuition) for PhD students for the duration of their program.

Interested students should contact Dr. H. Lisle Gibbs, Department of EEOB, Ohio State University at gibbs.128@osu.edu with a statement of interest, a CV, transcripts and GRE scores if available. I will start reviewing applications on 15 October.  Please see the lab (https://u.osu.edu/gibbslab/) and department (http://eeob.osu.edu/) websites for more information.