The Faith Lab at NC State University (www.genomicidlab.com) and the Forensic Sciences Institute is seeking a post-doc scholar for a 2-year US Department of Defense project that aims to use to the fungi present in dust to determine the geographic origin of samples and, in addition, to build tools that make it easier for this approach to be used in forensics.
This unique experience positions the post-doc scholar as a critical member of an interdisciplinary team conducting cutting-edge applied research at the intersection of forensics, genomics, biogeography, statistics, and bioinformatics. The team includes faculty from the NC State Departments of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, Statistics (Eric Laber, Brian Reich), and Applied Ecology (Rob Dunn, robdunnlab.com), as well as the University of Colorado (Noah Fierer, http://fiererlab.org/). The scholar will be responsible for developing forensic laboratory DNA sequencing methods, testing the methods against true forensic samples (which is to say, if we don’t know where a sample is from, will the method really work to tell us?), and serving as a subject matter expert to the interdisciplinary team. Job Duties: •Developing laboratory methods and investigating bioinformatic routines to analyze environmental samples with next-generation sequencing (NGS) •Managing large genomic datasets produced with NGS (e.g., Illumina MiSeq) •Presenting results at lab/teammeetings, international forensic science meetings, and government briefings •Participating in interdisciplinary teams, including external collaborators in industry, academiaand government•Authoring of manuscripts, standard operating proceduresand proposals •Assisting in extension and outreach with the forensics community Requirements: PhD in a relevant field, e.g., forensic science, cell and molecular biology, biotechnology, bioinformatics, biostatistics, biochemistry. Preferred Experience, Skills, Training: In addition, preference may be given to applicants with advanced degrees (e.g., M.S. or Ph.D.) and/or demonstrated experience in the following: •Next-generation sequencing technology •Bioinformatics or analytics of biological data using R, Python, Java or other applicable programming languages andanalysis packages •Forensic science •Cloud computing •Data mining and machine learning Optional skill: Obsessive watching of CSI shows To apply, contact Seth Faith, safa...@ncsu.edu
