Post Doctoral Researcher

The Ohio State University • Wooster, AR

19h • Onsite

About The Position

The Benitez Ponce laboratory in the Department of Plant Pathology at the Ohio State University (OSU) is looking for a postdoctoral researcher position, located at OSU CFAES Wooster campus. The postdoctoral research will work in a collaborative project to study growing media decomposition in soilless controlled environment agriculture.

Conducts research focused on different aspects of microbiology and dynamics of decomposition of organic soilless substrates for controlled environment agriculture production. Duties include, support research activities such as experiment design and setup in the greenhouse and laboratory; sampling, sample processing, data generation, data pre-processing, and report presentation. In addition, the candidate curates, analyzes data, and prepares manuscripts deriving from interdisciplinary projects in controlled environment agriculture and presents results in different formats. Specifically, in the laboratory, the candidate applies various techniques to understand microbial roles in substrate decomposition. This includes handling and processing of samples for microbial analysis, maintenance and identification of cultures, and RNA-based analysis, including bioinformatics. The candidate also maintains thorough records of research, including annotated electronic resources and bioinformatic pipelines; prepares reports and assists on manuscript preparation for publication. The candidate will be expected to contribute to other laboratory group activities, such as, but not limited to, training of laboratory personnel and general lab maintenance, and interactions with project collaborators.

Requirements

• A PhD in Microbiology, Plant Pathology, Agronomy/Crop Science, Horticulture, Soil Sciences, Ecology, or related field.
• Application of molecular tools (DNA/RNA extraction and PCR) in microbial ecology, including nucleic acid sequence data analysis (and related bioinformatics experience), and experience with plant production systems are required.

Nice To Haves

• Application of bioinformatic tools for shotgun metagenomics and RNA sequence analysis.
• Knowledge and application of R language.
• Experience in controlled environment agriculture.

Responsibilities

• Data collection, organization, analysis, interpretation and communication (written and oral).
• Conducts greenhouse and laboratory experiments.
• Advise and interact with graduate and undergraduate students in research activities.
• Support research activities such as experiment design and setup in the greenhouse and laboratory.
• Sampling, sample processing, data generation, data pre-processing, and report presentation.
• Curate and analyze data, and prepare manuscripts deriving from interdisciplinary projects in controlled environment agriculture and present results in different formats.
• Apply various techniques to understand microbial roles in substrate decomposition.
• Handle and process samples for microbial analysis, maintenance and identification of cultures, and RNA-based analysis, including bioinformatics.
• Maintain thorough records of research, including annotated electronic resources and bioinformatic pipelines.
• Prepare reports and assist on manuscript preparation for publication.
• Contribute to other laboratory group activities, such as training of laboratory personnel and general lab maintenance, and interactions with project collaborators.

Benefits

• medical
• dental
• vision
• pension options

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree