Position Title: Postdoctoral Researcher

Organization: Laboratory for Pathogenesis of Clinical Drug Resistance and Persistence, School of Public Health, San Diego State University

Tuberculosis kills 1.5 million annually, second only to COVID19 among infectious diseases. Our laboratory (http://tuberculosis.sdsu.edu/) works on identification of the genetic and epigenetic basis of antibiotic resistance, persistence, and virulence. Our laboratory is seeking a postdoctoral fellow to join a multidisciplinary team with goals of identifying and confirming novel drug resistance mechanisms and drug and vaccine target identification.

Responsibilities

Conduct original scientific research and develop projects investigating drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates using genomics and other high-throughput approaches.
Design and implement research plans
Training graduate students and working closely with the lab’s project scientists and collaborators
Prepare reports and presentations about status of current research
Write manuscripts and assist with grant proposal preparation
Troubleshooting and solving experimental and technical problems
Other duties as assigned

Required Qualifications

Proven track record of publications as first author
Deep understanding of molecular biology, genetics, and biochemistry
Experience in standard BSL2 laboratory protocols and safety procedures
Experience with PCR or LAMP amplification
Experience in culturing and DNA/RNA extraction
Experience with library preparation for WGS
Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and complete projects efficiently
Ability to “think outside the box” and design projects and experiments
Ability to think critically and have strong problem-solving skills
Strong oral and written communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with mutagenesis, especially on M. tuberculosis
Experience in culturing and DNA/RNA extraction from M. tuberculosis
Experience with library preparation for WGS for Pacific Biosciences or Nanopore sequencing
Experience with high throughput diagnostics using PCR or LAMP
Experience with grant writing
Experience processing high-throughput sequencing data using popular software (e.g. VarScan2, GATK, BWA, samtools, minimap2, canu)
Proficiency in Linux command line usage and one or more scripting languages (R, Python, Perl)

Experience with high-performance computing
Experience in infectious disease or pathogen genomics research

How to apply

Refer to the form on this page, or contact Dr. Faramarz Valafar at "faramarz at sdsu.edu".