Biological Sciences Researcher II - 530971

The University of Alabama • Tuscaloosa, AL

1d

About The Position

The Biological Sciences Researcher II oversees biological sciences research projects and is responsible for their day-to-day activities. The position contributes to planning and designing research and creative projects, assists with short- and long-term planning and project goals, and may help develop research proposals and disseminate findings.

The role is with the Alabama Water Institute’s CONSERVE Research Program, which partners with the USDA Agricultural Research Service through the 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. Its research includes genome assembly and comparative, population, conservation, herbarium, museum, and environmental metagenomics, connecting genomic data with ecological models of watershed health.

The position leads wet-laboratory genomics operations. Work includes isolating high-quality DNA and RNA from plant, animal, and environmental samples; moving samples through genome and metagenome sequencing; operating laboratory automation; and maintaining laboratory instruments, inventory, and safety programs. Renewal of the position is contingent 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, including 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 to program and operate laboratory automation.
• 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.
• A post-baccalaureate degree is highly preferred.

Nice To Haves

• 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 for long-read sequencing (including 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 take responsibility for their day-to-day activities.
• Contribute significantly to the planning and design of research and creative projects.
• Assist with short- and long-term planning and project goals.
• May assist with research and creative proposals and dissemination of project findings.
• Lead wet-laboratory genomics operations, including isolating high-quality DNA and RNA from plant, animal, and environmental samples.
• Move samples efficiently through genome and metagenome sequencing workflows.
• Run laboratory automation.
• Maintain laboratory instruments, inventory, and safety programs.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level