Research Scientist - Pathogen Genomics and Surveillance

Parsons Corporation•Frederick, MD

6d•$103,500 - $181,100•Onsite

About The Position

Parsons is seeking Research Scientists – Pathogen Genomics and Surveillance to support infectious-disease research at NMRC BDRD. These positions will conduct laboratory and analytical research involving molecular biology, genomics, microbiology, virology, bacteriology, and bioinformatics. The selected scientists will contribute to pathogen detection, surveillance, protocol development, sequencing, data analysis, and epidemic or pandemic preparedness. Work may involve clinical, environmental, wastewater, animal, vector, or other complex samples.

Requirements

Ph.D. in molecular biology, biology, microbiology, virology, emerging infectious diseases, biochemistry, or a closely related field.
Practical postdoctoral research experience in virology, bacteriology, and/or genomics.
At least two years of demonstrable applied experience relevant to genomics, microbiology, virology, bacteriology, bioinformatics, or bioinformatics-platform and software development.
Practical knowledge of basic and applied research, experimental design, and scientific methods.
Demonstrated ability to perform original and competent research.
Strong data-analysis, troubleshooting, writing, and communication skills.
Ability to meet project deadlines and work in a multidisciplinary research environment.
Ability to provide occasional after-hours support based on assigned mission requirements.
Availability for domestic and international travel lasting up to two to four weeks.
U.S. citizenship due to federal contract requirements.
Eligibility to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance and required Government access.

Nice To Haves

Significant NGS and wet-laboratory experience with infectious-disease protocols.
Experience with clinical, environmental, wastewater, animal, or vector samples.
Experience with whole-genome sequencing, genome assembly, annotation, or phylogenetics.
Experience developing or validating bioinformatics pipelines.
Experience supporting DoD, Navy Medicine, or another federal research laboratory.
Experience with biosurveillance, outbreak response, or emerging pathogens.
Scientific publication and conference-presentation experience.
An active Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

Design and conduct basic and applied infectious-disease research.
Perform wet-laboratory activities supporting genomics, pathogen detection, and characterization.
Conduct or support NGS and bioinformatics analysis of complex samples.
Develop, test, and improve laboratory and analytical protocols.
Design probes or primers and assess analytical sensitivity and specificity.
Support target-enrichment, shotgun-sequencing, and amplicon-sequencing approaches.
Perform pathogen surveillance and contribute to the detection of known or novel pathogens.
Analyze research data, troubleshoot technical issues, and document experimental results.
Support epidemic, pandemic, and emerging-pathogen research activities.
Prepare protocols, SOPs, technical reports, presentations, manuscripts, and database-ready data.
Collaborate with multidisciplinary researchers and CONUS or OCONUS partners.
Travel domestically and internationally when required.