Assistant Professor - Microbiome Bioninformatics

This appointment will be a full-time, 9-month, tenure-track position in the Animal and Dairy Science Department, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Athens Campus. It is a new 70% research / 30% teaching position. The role is expected to develop and provide leadership for an extramurally funded, relevant nationally/internationally recognized animal microbiome program emphasizing, but not limited to, the use of bioinformatics and biostatistics tools to investigate the large data sets typically generated in microbiome research, to improve the precision of animal production. The successful candidate is also expected to recruit/advise graduate students, publish results in peer-reviewed publications and other appropriate forums, and provide service both within the University and outside to professional societies. This position will also strengthen the relationship between Ruminant Nutrition faculty and those faculty in the Department of Animal and Dairy Science who are working in the areas of animal production, nutrition, food safety, breeding and genetics, and animal health. Teaching activities will include the development of two courses, one of which will be in the area of bioinformatics for processing microbial DNA sequence data, and the second in the area of biostatistics applied to animal science. The successful candidate will also be required to develop and/or teach other courses involving bioinformatics and biostatistics as needed by the Department.

This position will investigate the microbiome and its interactions with animal systems aiming to improve animal production, efficiency, health, and welfare. The interdisciplinary position will combine advanced knowledge in bioinformatics to analyze large-scale DNA data, systems biology, and animal husbandry to understand the contribution of microbial communities to the phenotypes of interest. High throughput approaches, such as next-generation sequencing using the rRNA genes and shotgun sequencing can be applied to identify microbial species and assess microbial diversity that exists within one or more animal systems. Once the microbial sequencing data is generated, advanced statistical methods such as multivariate approaches can be used to analyze the interactions between microbiome and host. Additionally, this position has a multispecies component given the interest of understanding the host-microbiome synergy in beef and dairy cattle, swine, broilers and layers, and other livestock. This position will develop one course at the 4000/6000 level focusing on biostatistics applied to animal science and one course at the 8000 level on bioinformatics for processing microbial DNA sequence data. This role will also be submitting grants to both USDA-NIFA and NIH, the two primary sources of external competitive funding for this position.