Research Associate- Comparative Genomics & Phylogenomics of Anaerobic Protists

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Reporting to the Principal Investigator (PI), the Research Associate will:

• Conduct all wet-lab and computational aspects of a project involving long and short-read genome sequencing, de novo assembly, metagenomic binning, genome annotation and downstream analyses of gene content and genome architecture in a comparative/evolutionary framework, individually or as part of a team.
• Assist the PI in mentoring trainees in the laboratory by training them on genomics, bioinformatics and evolutionary analysis and how to interpret their analyses.
• Present findings at regular lab meetings and other seminars both in the university and at scientific meetings.
• Write findings in manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication.

Required Qualifications:
• Ph.D. in Molecular Evolution or related discipline, with a minimum of 5 years related experience in microbial genomics, evolution and phylogenomics, with a strong record of publishing in high impact journals.
• Extensive research experience in comparative microbial genomics of free-living anaerobic protists, Archaea and Bacteria. Documented experience with metagenomic binning and genome assembly, addressing eukaryogenesis-related phylogenetic problems including the origin of mitochondria.
• Experience with Oxford Nanopore sequencing, Illumina sequencing, de novo genome assembly of microbial eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes, gene prediction/curation and functional annotation of microbial eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes.
• Strong skills in bioinformatics and demonstrated proficiency in Linux and Python programming. Experience guiding trainees in bioinformatics skills.
• Advanced knowledge of phylogenomic analyses and the use of site-profile mixture models in a Bayesian and Maximum likelihood context as well as diagnosis of phylogenetic artefacts occurring in deep tree of life inferences.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

This is a 2-year term position with an annual salary of $65,000 pro-rated to $58,500 for 0.9 FTE (31.5 hours/week).

Close date: September 26, 2025
To apply: https://dal.peopleadmin.ca/postings/19553

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