Careers

Note: As of July 18, this position is open to all applicants regardless of US citizenship status. Applications will be accepted till Aug 31, 2019. Non-US citizens should be eligible to work in the United States on a work (H1B) visa. Candidates need not reapply after this change if they have previously submitted an application.

Postdoc/Scientist/Adjunct Assistant Professor Position in Biophysics of Complex Systems

(Version 2)

Expires August 31, 2019

Global Viral (GV) invites applications for an independent, self-motivated biophysicist as Postdoc/Scientist/Adjunct Assistant Professor to work on a newly funded project aimed at exploring information transfer and origins of complexity in biological systems. Work will be supervised by Dr. Shailesh Date, Chief Scientific Officer of Global Viral, and will be performed at SF State University (San Francisco) in collaboration with Dr. Joseph Barranco, Chair, Dept. of Physics, and partly at NASA/JPL (Pasadena) in collaboration with Dr. Parag Vaishampayan.

The candidate will be a member of the Boundaries of Life research team, which comprises of PIs, students and postdocs from Stanford, Caltech, NASA/JPL and the Joint Genome Institute, and will be part of soon to be launched Laboratory for Research in Complex Systems (LRC). Non-US citizens should be eligible to work in the United States on a work (H1B) visa.

Project description: The project aims to meld aspects of biophysics (thermodynamics of physical processes) with evolutionary theory to build simple models illustrating origins of complex systems in biology, how biological systems reduce entropy and capture information, and how non-genomic information in the form of templates, gradients, flows ratios and so on is transmitted between generations. The project will focus on answering the following key questions:

What does a survey of bacterial 16S rRNA inform us about bacterial phylogeny?
Can evolutionary concepts like exaptation help explain origins of complexity at the systems level?
Does the process of exaptation lead to something like a phase transition or state change in a system or group of systems by reorganizing molecular interactions?
If function is viewed as sum of interactions within a complex biological system, which components of biological systems (inputs/processes/outputs/controls) are under selection pressure?

Quantitative models will be experimentally tested using bacterial model systems, with the aim of synthetically pushing biological systems towards new behaviors and functions.

Desired qualifications: Candidates should have obtained a Ph.D. degree in the natural/quantitative sciences with emphasis on modeling biological systems. Strong computational and quantitative skills are required. Previous postdoctoral experience, along with knowledge of bioinformatics, commonly used bioinformatics tools/platforms, analysis of high throughput data (E.g. NGSa, mass spec), phylogenetics (particularly bacterial phylogenetics) and evolutionary biology will be considered a big plus. In all instances, candidates should demonstrate the ability to communicate and work with biologists to test predictive models; wet-lab skills are desired but not necessary.

Appointment and Duties: The position is intended to prepare the candidate for a career as a professional scientist, and requires the candidate to conduct research, teach and supervise, and perform service for the organization. The candidate will be appointed as Fellow/Scientist at Global Viral for the duration of the project (3 years), and may be nominated as Adjunct Assistant Professor at SF State University (approval to be based on qualifications and experience). Appointment beyond this period is contingent on availability of additional funding. Experienced candidates will have the opportunity to supervise a graduate (Masters degree) student. The candidate is expected to work independently to develop the funded project along with other supporting projects. He/she should be willing to write grant proposals to support research within the organization, and to travel between San Francisco and Pasadena and spend time working at JPL to conduct research activities.

Salary and benefits: Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. Employer will provide health benefits, paid vacation, sick and holiday leave, flexible spending account and matching 401K.

To apply: Please complete the application form and send a copy of your recent CV to the email below, with the subject line “Biophysics Scientist”. Your CV should contain the following sections (in particular order): area of work, educational background, publications, awards and achievements, details of the doctoral project, and names and contact information for 3 referees. Referees will be contacted only for shortlisted candidates. Your help in complying with formatting guidelines is greatly appreciated; it will allow identification of suitable candidates quickly and efficiently. Both the application form and your CV are required, if you are to be considered for the position.

Email address to send CV: careers AT globalviral.org

Applications will be accepted till August 31, 2019, and the candidate is expected to start work in Fall 2019. Global Viral welcomes all candidates regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, and places a very high emphasis on diversity. Women and under-represented minorities are highly encouraged to apply.

Expired 12/31/2017

Postdoctoral Researchers / Fellows (multiple positions) as part of the Boundaries of Life Initiative

Global Viral seeks to recruit up to 3 scholars as postdoctoral researchers or fellows (based on level of experience and expertise) as part of the Boundaries of Life Initiative, a fully funded, multi-year collaboration between Global Viral, Stanford, Caltech, the Joint Genome Institute and NASA/JPL. The project entails developing experimental, computational and theoretical methods to focus on evolution of life on earth, and identify novel forms of life that have not been characterized. Deadline for applications is December 1, 2017, with a potential start date of Jan/Feb 2018. The postdoc will be situated either in San Francisco Bay Area or Pasadena/LA area.

Specific responsibilities

The scholar will engage in research specifically aimed at identifying new forms of life through various approaches under the supervision of mentors from one or more institutes. Scholars hired as fellows will be required to initiate new projects and obtain grant funding after an initial support period of up to 36 months, and may have the opportunity to supervise students for short term projects. There will be ample opportunities to develop collaborations with other teams from Stanford, Caltech, JGI, NASA/JPL and other institutes.

Qualifications

Ideal candidates will have a doctoral degree or equivalent from a reputable institution, with particular strengths in one or more of the following areas: Microbiology / Microbial Ecology, Computational Biology / Mathematical modeling, Biochemistry, Synthetic biology, Chemical engineering, Cell biology and Evolutionary biology.

Examples of open projects: Evolution of viruses, esp. giant viruses and their placement on ToL, transitions to obligate multicellularity in prokaryotes, origins of biological circuits and their effect on survival, spectroscopic detection of non-canonical nucleic acids (XNAs) in the environment, automating detection of individual cells on spacecraft surfaces (for Mars 2020) using JPL's SEM/EDS system.

At least one researcher is expected to initiate projects as part of the new, high-risk high-reward program on Information, Complexity and Synthetic Biology (ICS). ICS, to be launched in 2018, entails developing and testing new models of evolution and major transitions, modeling origins of biological complexity and read-write systems, and directed evolution with an eye on synthetic applications.

All candidates are expected to have strong to very strong backgrounds in their particular area of research, as demonstrated by publications in scientific journals, presentations at conferences and participation in scientific symposia. Quantitative skills are highly desirable regardless of area of expertise.

Salary and benefits

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. Employer will provide health benefits, paid vacation, sick and holiday leave, flexible spending account and matching 401K.

To apply

Please complete the application form and send a copy of your recent CV to the email below, with the subject line “BOL Phase II Postdoc”. Your CV should contain the following sections (in particular order, 12 pt. Times New Roman font with 1 inch margins): area of work, educational background, publications, awards and achievements, details of the doctoral project, and names and contact information for 3 referees. Referees will be contacted only for shortlisted candidates. Your help in complying with formatting guidelines is greatly appreciated; it will allow identification of suitable candidates quickly and efficiently. Both the application form and your CV are required, if you are to be considered for the position.

Email address to send CV: careers AT globalviral.org

GV welcomes all candidates regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, and places a very high emphasis on diversity. Women and under-represented minorities are highly encouraged to apply.