Postdoctoral Position in Bioinformatics

We are hiring a highly motivated scientist to make significant contributions to the burgeoning field of wastewater sequence analysis. 

While communities now consume food and beverages from around the world, they generally deposit their biological waste in a common branched stream, the sewers and processing facilities for solid waste.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, municipalities around the world have adopted wastewater monitoring as part of their community health plan.  Several researchers have shown that there is a significant lag in traditional community virus detection (through symptomatic patients), that can be predicted by spikes in wastewater viral counts.  Our lab is part of a collaboration of schools, university and city health researchers participating in a new monitoring program. While great strides have been made to optimize computer modelling and testing protocols, there is still need for a fundamental understanding of the living and dead biological components of wastewater, and their relation to pathogen testing.

A Bioinformatician is sought to study the presence of viruses and other pathogens in human wastewater (from DNA and RNA sequence data, and viral counts).  The data will be collected from laboratory analysis of samples from various sites in and around the city.  This data will be correlated with other regional lab data and reports of symptoms and confirmed cases of COVID-19.  The bioinformatician will develop analytical tools to assist in the prediction of future health impacts on the community, and to analyze mitigation strategies. The position will work with public health and school officials to prepare reports and disseminate findings through publication and professional presentations. 

Requirements: Ph.D. in Computer Science or a related field, at least two years’ experience with biological sequence analysis, preferably involving environmental samples and RNA viruses.  The ideal candidate has excellent communications skills, a record of research productivity, and a willingness to learn and participate in new biological laboratory assay development.

The lab is located on the 25-mile riverside Boise Greenbelt at Boise State University. To apply respond to https://jobs.boisestate.edu/en-us/job/495581/postdoc-bioinformatics