"Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Natural Products Chemistry and Microbial Genomics"

Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Full-time (100%), fixed-term position for up to 2 years
Base salary will be in the range $82,057.75 - $109,246.18 + 17% Superannuation (Academic Level A)
Based at our St Lucia Campus

About This Opportunity

This exciting NHMRC Ideas Grant project, undertaken in collaboration with Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), is focused on uncovering new antibiotics from microbial isolates sourced from soil and other diverse ecosystems. By integrating cutting-edge genomics, metabolomics, and biochemical screening, the team aims to identify novel compounds that target bacterial cell wall biosynthesis.

As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, you’ll collaborate with leading experts in natural products chemistry, microbial genomics, and bioinformatics. Your role will involve isolating and cultivating microbes under varied conditions, extracting and characterising novel natural products, and analysing biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) to uncover their potential for antibiotic production.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Research: Establish a research program, collaborate on research projects, seek and manage research funding, publish in reputable journals and participate in project discussions. Undertake the cultivation, isolation, taxonomic characterisation and cryopreservation of soil microbes (i.e. bacteria and fungi). Undertake the analytical scale cultivation of microbes in a microbioreactor (i.e. MATRIX), and subsequent chemical (i.e. UPLC-DAD-MS and UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS-GNPS) and biological (i.e. antibiotic and cytotoxicity) profiling of microbial solvent extracts, fractions and pure natural products. Undertake large scale microbial cultivation to produce, and use semi-preparative and preparative scale chromatography (HPLC, SPE, GEL) to isolate pure bioactive microbial natural products. Use spectroscopic (NMR, MS, UV-vis and polarimeter) and chemical analysis to elucidate the structures of microbial natural products. Perform genomics analyses, including BGC mining, comparative genomics, and genome assembly. Support and contribute to the safe and efficient operations of research group equipment, infrastructure, methodologies and protocols. Accurately document all research activities in lab books and specialist databases.
• Supervision and Researcher Development: Supervise students, recruit and manage employees, provide performance feedback and training, resolve conflicts, and ensure correct remuneration and benefits.
• Citizenship and Service: Develop partnerships, demonstrate leadership through mentoring, engage in internal service roles and committees, perform administrative functions, provide support to colleagues, and uphold university values.

This is a research focused position. Further information can be found by viewing UQ’s Criteria for Academic Performance.

About You

• Education, training and/or relevant experience equivalent to the completion of a PhD in a relevant field (e.g., natural products chemistry).
• Strong expertise in organic chemistry, with a focus on microbial natural products and associated analytical techniques.
• Proven experience in structure elucidation of small molecules using 1D/2D NMR, MS, and other spectroscopic methods, as well as genomics analyses and bioinformatics tools (e.g., antiSMASH, BiG-SCAPE).
• Skilled in microbiological techniques including sterile handling, cultivation of bacteria and fungi, cryo-preservation, and taxonomic analysis.
• Proficient in purification of natural products using semi-preparative and preparative High Performance Liquid Chromatography (i.e. HPLC).
• Experienced in operating and troubleshooting analytical chromatographic (i.e. HPLC, LCMS and UPLC-QTOF) and spectroscopic (i.e. NMR) instruments.
• Knowledgeable in chemical analysis methods (e.g., Marfey’s, Mosher’s, derivatization, degradation, synthesis) for structure elucidation and structure activity relationship analysis.
• Demonstrated experience in bioassay-guided microbial biodiscovery, GNPS molecular networking, and use of online databases (e.g., SciFinder, Web of Science) for dereplication and prioritization.
• Experience in laboratory best practice OH&S.
• Track record of publishing original research in leading peer reviewed scientific journals.