Post Doctoral Scholar

The Ohio State University • Columbus, OH

22h • Onsite

About The Position

The Ohio State University's College of Dentistry seeks a Postdoctoral Scholar to join its Division of Biosciences. The Division of Biosciences is a multidisciplinary basic science unit committed to research and teaching in the broad area of oral biosciences. All faculty members within the Division are engaged in active research programs and are funded by a variety of organizations including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

The Kaspar Lab within the Division of Biosciences seeks a self-motivated, organized, and collaborative Postdoctoral Scholar with expertise in bioinformatics, metagenomics, and microbial community analysis to join a research team investigating bacteriophages within the oral microbiome. The Postdoctoral Scholar will lead the computational analysis of metagenomic and viromic sequencing datasets generated through the laboratory’s bacteriophage research program. Primary responsibilities will include sequence quality control, metagenomic assembly, viral genome identification and reconstruction, viral genome quality assessment, taxonomic and functional annotation, bacteriophage-host prediction, comparative genomic analysis, and characterization of viral populations across oral samples. The successful candidate will have previous experience implementing and optimizing viral metagenomic analysis pipelines and working with commonly used command-line bioinformatics tools in Linux-based or high-performance computing environments. The Postdoctoral Scholar will also perform microbial and viral community analyses, including diversity analyses, ordination, differential abundance testing, community composition comparisons, and other multivariate statistical approaches used to evaluate associations among bacteriophage populations, bacterial communities, clinical characteristics, and sample types. Responsibilities may also include developing reproducible computational workflows, organizing and maintaining sequencing datasets, preparing analysis documentation, and integrating viral and bacterial metagenomic results with experimental findings generated by other members of the laboratory.

The Postdoctoral Scholar will support and contribute to multiple interdisciplinary projects within the laboratory and will work closely with the principal investigator, graduate students, research staff, collaborators, and trainees. The individual will have opportunities to develop new computational approaches, contribute to experimental design, mentor laboratory members in bioinformatic methods, and assist with the interpretation of complex sequencing datasets. The Postdoctoral Scholar will regularly prepare and present research findings at group laboratory meetings, one-on-one meetings with the laboratory director, scientific conferences, and collaborative project meetings. The individual will be expected to contribute figures, statistical analyses, methods, results, and interpretive text for scientific presentations, manuscripts, grant applications, and other scholarly products. The position is intended for a researcher interested in advancing an independent scientific profile while contributing to a collaborative research program focused on oral bacteriophages, microbial ecology, and the development of phage-based strategies to understand and manipulate oral microbial communities.

This position is a three-year term position contingent upon grant funding.

Requirements

• PhD in bioinformatics, computational biology, microbiology, genomics, or a related biological or quantitative field.
• Multiple years of experience analyzing metagenomic sequencing data using established bioinformatic tools and command-line workflows.
• Proficiency working in Linux-based computing environments.
• Experience with commonly used programming or statistical languages, such as R or Python.

Nice To Haves

• Previous experience with viral metagenomic pipelines.
• Experience with viral genome reconstruction and characterization.
• Experience with microbial and viral community analysis.
• Experience with statistical analysis of sequencing datasets.
• Experience developing, modifying, or benchmarking bioinformatic tools and computational workflows.
• Experience building reproducible analysis pipelines.
• Experience working in high-performance computing environments.
• Experience integrating viral and bacterial metagenomic datasets.
• Experience with bacteriophage genomics.
• Experience with host-prediction approaches.
• Experience with comparative genomics.
• Scientific programming in R, Python, or related languages.

Responsibilities

• Lead the computational analysis of metagenomic and viromic sequencing datasets generated through the laboratory’s bacteriophage research program.
• Perform sequence quality control, metagenomic assembly, viral genome identification and reconstruction, viral genome quality assessment, taxonomic and functional annotation, bacteriophage-host prediction, comparative genomic analysis, and characterization of viral populations across oral samples.
• Implement and optimize viral metagenomic analysis pipelines.
• Work with commonly used command-line bioinformatics tools in Linux-based or high-performance computing environments.
• Perform microbial and viral community analyses, including diversity analyses, ordination, differential abundance testing, community composition comparisons, and other multivariate statistical approaches used to evaluate associations among bacteriophage populations, bacterial communities, clinical characteristics, and sample types.
• Develop reproducible computational workflows.
• Organize and maintain sequencing datasets.
• Prepare analysis documentation.
• Integrate viral and bacterial metagenomic results with experimental findings generated by other members of the laboratory.
• Support and contribute to multiple interdisciplinary projects within the laboratory.
• Work closely with the principal investigator, graduate students, research staff, collaborators, and trainees.
• Develop new computational approaches.
• Contribute to experimental design.
• Mentor laboratory members in bioinformatic methods.
• Assist with the interpretation of complex sequencing datasets.
• Regularly prepare and present research findings at group laboratory meetings, one-on-one meetings with the laboratory director, scientific conferences, and collaborative project meetings.
• Contribute figures, statistical analyses, methods, results, and interpretive text for scientific presentations, manuscripts, grant applications, and other scholarly products.

Benefits

• Three-year term position contingent upon grant funding.

What This Job Offers

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