The Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) at Kansas State University (Manhattan, KS) is actively seeking a Fellow (Post Doc). The WGRC is looking for a highly motivated and open-minded candidate to join a multidisciplinary team of researchers working on diverse basic and applied aspects of wheat genetics and genomics and whose focus will be on the development of resources, tools, and strategies to discover, characterize and effectively utilize genetic diversity of wheat and its wild relatives for wheat improvement.
A candidate will collaborate with the WGRC research team on projects integrating genomics and phenomics data to understand the genetics and biology of agronomic trait variation. They will be responsible for analyses of SNP variation, RNA-seq, epigenomic, and phenomic datasets, mapping and characterizing genes and pathways underlying disease resistance and/or drought and heat tolerance traits.
A successful candidate will have recent Ph.D. level training in plant genetics/genomics, bioinformatics, plant biology or related fields with the demonstrated potential to integrate experimental and analytical approaches to map and functionally characterize causal genes/pathways controlling phenotypic traits. Excellent organizational, written/verbal communication skills and the ability to work in a multicultural environment are required. Knowledge of coding in one of the major languages used for statistical analyses or analyzing genetic and genomic data would be a plus.
The candidate will have access to high performance computing resources of the KSU Beocat cluster (http://www.beocat.cis.ksu.edu/beocat), modern genomic instrumentation through the KSU Integrated Genomics Facility (http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/igenomics) and have a chance to interact with vibrant KSU research programs in plant genetics and genomics. For further details about the position, please contact Eduard Akhunov at eakhunov@ksu.edu.
Why join us:
Kansas State University offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes health insurance, life insurance, retirement plans, paid time off – vacation, sick, and holidays. To see what benefits are available, please visit: https://www.k-state.edu/hcs/benefits
Minimum Qualifications:
Ph.D. degree in bioinformatics, computer/data science, genetics or other related fields.
Two years of experience in the application of bioinformatical and statistical tools for analyzing genomic and phenotypic datasets in plant genetics programs.
Preferred Qualifications:
Understanding of basic principles of major genomic technologies (next generation sequencing, RNA-seq, genomic variant calling etc.).
Familiarity with machine learning techniques.
Familiarity with at least one major programming language (Perl or Python, Java), and statistical computing environment (R or SAS).
Excellent knowledge of experimental design and statistical techniques applied in analyzing big data.
Experience with building relational databases for storing and retrieval of genomic and phenotypic data.
Excellent organizational and written/verbal communication skills.
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