Research Scientist

Advertised Job Summary

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry seeks to hire a Post-Doctoral Fellow to develop microbial heterologous expression systems via synthetic biology technologies, aiming to utilize the vast genetic potentials of the biosynthetic gene clusters from cultivatable microbes for production of bioactive natural products, such as antibiotics and anticancer agents. Following the establishment of a high efficiency heterologous expression system, the selected promising biosynthetic gene clusters will be cloned/synthesized and expressed in this heterologous expression system for production of the corresponding compounds. The production level and chemical diversity will be further tuned by genetic manipulation. In addition, the biological and/or physiological activities of the compounds discovered will be studied.

Additional job responsibilities include contributing to writing manuscripts and reports on funded projects and assisting in training graduate and undergraduate students in their research.

Job Related Minimum Required Education and Experience

PhD in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biology or a closely related science with experience in microbial genetics, gene editing, and synthetic biology.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

Knowledge of microbial genetics and synthetic biology are required; Enzymology, natural products chemistry, and biological evaluation would be a plus. Strong communication and writing abilities are also required.

Job Duties

• Develop microbial heterologous expression systems via synthetic biology technologies, aiming to utilize the vast genetic potentials of the biosynthetic gene clusters from cultivatable microbes for production of bioactive natural products. (40%)
• Assists in supervising and training graduate and undergraduate students in their research projects. (20%)
• Contribute to writing manuscripts and reports on funded projects. (20%)
• Biological and/or physiological activities of the compounds discovered will be studied. (20%)