Postdoctoral Position in Biology

Job Description

The Oliverio Lab at Syracuse University is seeking a creative postdoctoral researcher to lead research on experimental evolution and strain diversity in synthetic microbiomes. The lab sits at the interface of microbial ecology, evolutionary biology, and systems biology, using an integrated toolkit including metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics, enrichment culturing, and synthetic community experiments to understand how microbial communities assemble, adapt, and function.

The lab uses sourdough starter microbiomes as tractable models for studying microbial evolution and intra-species diversity. The postdoc will design and execute ecological and evolution experiments in defined microbial consortia, characterize strain-level genomic and functional variation across community members, and connect evolutionary change and strain diversity to emergent community phenotypes. There is also opportunity to integrate computational experiments, for example genome-scale metabolic modeling. This work is supported by an NIH R35 MIRA award.

This postdoctoral position is fully funded for up to three years with an initial 12-month appointment subject to renewal. Specific research goals will be developed in collaboration with the principal investigator, with extensive opportunity for scientific independence and to pursue research aligned with the postdoc’s interests and expertise.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Microbiology, Evolutionary Biology, or a related field, conferred by the time of appointment
• Track record of research demonstrated through publications and/or other significant research accomplishments

Job-Specific Qualifications

• Experience designing or executing experimental evolution or microbiome experiments
• Proficiency in bioinformatics approaches for multi-omics data
• Familiarity with genome-scale metabolic modeling or related computational approaches
• Familiarity with microbial culturing and microbiome experiments
• Strong quantitative skillset and ability to work across wet lab and computational approaches
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Organized, detail-oriented, and collaborative
• Enthusiasm for developing new research directions

Responsibilities

• Design research projects, execute experiments, and analyze data related to microbial ecology, evolution, and systems biology
• Write manuscripts, conference abstracts, and fellowship proposals
• Mentor graduate and undergraduate students
• Attend conferences, workshops, and professional development opportunities