Biological Sciences Researcher II - 530971
About The Position
The Biological Sciences Researcher II oversees biological sciences research projects and is responsible for their day-to-day activities. The role contributes significantly to research planning and design, assists with short- and long-term project planning and goals, and may support proposal development and dissemination of findings. At the Alabama Water Institute, the CONSERVE Research Program works with the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Innovative Water Systems Program to improve agricultural water use and watershed health. The Future Ecologies Directorate applies genomics to study how plants, microbial communities, and ecosystems respond to changing water and land use, connecting genomic data with ecological models of watershed health. This position leads wet-laboratory genomics operations, including isolating high-quality DNA and RNA from plant, animal, and environmental samples; coordinating sample progression through genome and metagenome sequencing; operating laboratory automation; and maintaining instruments, inventory, and safety programs. Position renewal depends on funding availability.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree and four years of biological sciences or closely related research experience; or a master's degree and two years of such experience; or a doctoral degree and some such experience.
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail in sample tracking, record keeping, and inventory management.
- Knowledge of nucleic acid quality control methods, such as Qubit, NanoDrop, gel and pulsed-field electrophoresis, TapeStation, Fragment Analyzer, Femto Pulse, or LightBench.
- Familiarity with next-generation sequencing workflows and library preparation using PacBio and/or Illumina.
- Knowledge of laboratory safety practices, including chemical handling, hazardous waste, and cryogen use.
- Ability to operate, maintain, and troubleshoot common molecular biology equipment, and willingness to learn laboratory automation programming and operation.
- Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines and prioritize work across collaborating teams.
- Ability to train and guide students and communicate clearly with faculty, partners, vendors, and core facilities.
- Proficiency with spreadsheets and electronic lab notebooks or sample-tracking databases.
Nice To Haves
- Post-baccalaureate degree, preferably a master's degree or higher.
- Master's degree in biology, molecular biology, genetics, plant science, microbiology, or a related field.
- Experience with PacBio HiFi workflows, including isolating high-molecular-weight DNA from challenging plant tissues, preparing PacBio libraries, and operating a PacBio Vega, Revio, or Sequel II/IIe sequencer.
- Experience programming and operating automated liquid-handling and library-preparation systems such as Hamilton Microlab Prep, Hamilton STAR, Beckman Biomek, Tecan, or Opentrons, and automated extraction systems such as KingFisher.
- Experience isolating DNA and/or RNA from plant, microbial, or environmental samples and troubleshooting difficult extractions.
- Experience preparing Illumina sequencing libraries.
- Experience with Hi-C, RNA-seq, amplicon, or shotgun metagenomic sample preparation.
- Experience extracting DNA from soil, water, or sediment, or recovering degraded DNA from herbarium and other natural history museum specimens.
- Experience managing a research laboratory, including procurement, equipment service contracts, and safety compliance.
- Experience with Linux command-line basics, sequencing data transfer, and metadata standards for public data archiving such as NCBI SRA.
- Experience supporting federally funded research, such as USDA, NSF, or NIH projects, including sample chain of custody and reporting.
Responsibilities
- Oversee biological sciences research projects and manage their day-to-day activities.
- Contribute to the planning and design of research and creative projects.
- Assist with short- and long-term project planning and goals.
- May assist with research and creative proposals and dissemination of project findings.
- Lead wet-laboratory genomics operations, including DNA and RNA isolation from plant, animal, and environmental samples.
- Move samples efficiently through genome and metagenome sequencing workflows.
- Run laboratory automation and maintain laboratory instruments, inventory, and safety programs.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
