3 Funded Postdoc Positions in Agricultural Microbiology and Green Biotech at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada

We have 3 funded postdoc positions in our team at queen’s university! Positions span wet-lab microbiology, dry-lab genomics, and synthetic biology, in agricultural microbiology and green biotech.

1 – Postdoctoral research position in the genomics of agricultural microbes (wet-lab):

The diCenzo Lab at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow for a large, well-funded project to develop microbial inoculants supporting the nutrition of key Canadian crops.

The selected candidate will work with a large team spanning multiple universities and involving industry and government partners. The selected candidate will have opportunities to undertake internships with our industrial partners to develop new skills and professional networks.

As part of this project, the selected candidate will establish a large collection of bacteria isolates from agricultural soils and from legume nodules, and they will be involved in performing Nanoporewhole genome sequencing. The selected candidate will also evaluate multiple traits of the rhizobial isolates, including nitrogen-fixing efficacy and competition for nodule occupancy.

The selected candidate will be provided the opportunity to branch out from this primary project to develop their own lines of independent research to support their future career, and they will have opportunities to attend conferences and professional development workshops, and to engage with collaborators and the local community.

Primary duties and responsibilities​

• Perform independent research within the scope of the project and ensure that milestones are met on schedule.
• Interact and share data with collaborators at Queen’s University and other institutions.
• Contribute to quarterly reporting and data dissemination through publications, presentations, and website maintenance.
• Contribute to training of junior group members.
• Generate new ideas related to the project or other research projects.

Preferred qualifications

• PhD in microbiology, plant-microbe interactions, or other field relevant to environmental microbiology.
• Experience with research in microbiology, plant-microbe interactions, and/or rhizobium-legume symbioses.
• Experience in one or more of the following: isolation of microbes from soils, bacterial cultivation, nucleic acid purification, or evaluating rhizobial performance.
• Publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• Experience working with others and mentoring junior group members.
• Skills in organization, time management, adherence to timelines, and communication.

To apply:

The ideal start date is September or October 2023, but it is negotiable based on the needs of the selected candidate. To apply, please submit the following to george.dicenzo@queensu.ca: (i) a cover letter describing your interest in the project, your fit to the position, and how the position would help you reach your career goals; (ii) a CV including a list of publications; and (iii) contact information for two academic / professional references. Applications will be considered as they are received and will continue until a candidate is selected; however, applicants are encouraged to submit prior toJune 26, 2023 to ensure full consideration.

I am committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in the team and the hiring process. If you require accommodations during the application and/or interview process, please contact Human Resources at hradmin@queensu.ca and reference this posting.

2 – Postdoctoral research position in the genomics of agricultural microbes (dry-lab):

The diCenzo Lab at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow for a large, well-funded project to develop microbial inoculants supporting the nutrition of key Canadian crops. The selected candidate will work with a large team spanning multiple universities and involving industry and government partners. The selected candidate will have opportunities to undertake internships with our industrial partners to develop new skills and professional networks.

As part of this project, the selected candidate will perform whole genome sequencing and annotation for a large collection of bacterial isolates from agricultural soils and legume nodules. The selected candidate will also analyze agricultural soil metagenomic datasets, contribute to transcriptomic and resequencing projects, and develop machine learning models using genomics information.

The selected candidate will be provided the opportunity to branch out from this primary project to develop their own lines of independent research to support their future career, and they will have opportunities to attend conferences and professional development workshops, and to engage with collaborators and the local community.

Primary duties and responsibilities:

• Perform independent research within the scope of the project and ensure that milestones are met on schedule.
• Interact and share data with collaborators at Queen’s University and other institutions.
• Contribute to quarterly reporting and data dissemination through publications, presentations, and website maintenance.
• Contribute to training of junior group members.
• Generate new ideas related to the project or other research projects.

Preferred qualifications

• PhD in microbiology, bioinformatics, or other field relevant to computational genomics.
• Experience in bioinformatics software, the Linux command line, and/or one or more programming language (e.g., Bash, Python, Perl).
• Experience in one or more of the following: bacterial genome assembly, comparative genomics, metagenomics, microbial community analysis, or machine learning as applied to genomics.
• Publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• Experience working with others and mentoring junior group members.
• Skills in organization, time management, adherence to timelines, and communication.

To apply:

The ideal start date is October 2023; however, the start date is negotiable based on the needs of the selected candidate. To apply, please submit the following to george.dicenzo@queensu.ca: (i) a cover letter describing your interest in the project, your fit to the position, and how the position would help you reach your career goals; (ii) a CV including a list of publications; and (iii) contact information for two academic / professional references. Applications will be considered as they are received and will continue until a candidate is selected; however, applicants are encouraged to submit prior toJune 26, 2023 to ensure full consideration.

I am committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in the team and the hiring process. If you require accommodations during the application and/or interview process, please contact Human Resources at hradmin@queensu.ca and reference this posting.

3 – Postdoctoral research position in synthetic biology and green biotechnology:

The diCenzo Lab at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow to engineer microbes to convert low-value carbon compounds (e.g., acetate) into value-added products (e.g., bioplastics or fuels). This position is jointly funded by New Frontiers Exploration grant focused on the conversion of CO2 into value-added products (led by Dr. Dinh), and a large-scale Genome Canada grant centred on plastic biodegradation (led by Dr. Yang ). The selected candidate will have opportunities to undertake internships with our industrial partners to develop new skills and professional networks.