Join an ERC funded research project investigating the inheritance and evolution of human associated microbes. The project will be conducted in a multidisciplinary team at the Quadram Institute and Earlham Institutes, UK, and combine newly established patient cohorts, concomitantly developed wetlab and bioinformatics protocols that enable a unique perspective into the human gut microbiome.

The role

How do gut bacteria colonize their human hosts and families? How do they then persist for decades in the same host? And how do they evolve and adapt to their unique human host? To answer these and follow up questions, the group received an ERC Starter grant.  The aim for this post is to dissect the microbial genetics enabling human long-term colonization on a novel family centric cohort established in the UK.

High-resolution metagenomics will be used to track microbes – eukaryotic and prokaryotic – across individuals and in families, and determine genes under selection. This will include closely working with metagenomic bioinformatics (assembly, genome binning, gene predictions) and combining this with population genetics and/or network inference algorithms. Thus, exploring microbiomes at unprecedented resolution can resolve eco-evolutionary processes determining resilience and functional plasticity of our gut microbiomes. Long-term, this work will contribute to enabling personalized & data driven medicine and developing the next generation of human gut microbiome treatments.

The environment

The Hildebrand group uses metagenomics to research the diversity, community interactions, and evolution of microbes in communities using custom software solutions. The group has a joint appointment between the Quadram Institute Bioscience and Earlham Institute to bridge data and life science, developing software such as LotuS2 and MATAFILER and pushing the limits of high-resolution metagenomics.

The ideal candidate

The applicant needs to hold a PhD (or equivalent) in biology, bioinformatics, computer science or a related discipline with a background and/or interest in at least one of the following subjects:

• Microbiomes & biodiversity
• Metagenomics & patient cohorts
• Ecology & evolution

The ideal candidate will have experience in conducting scientific experiments independently, writing papers, presenting work and grant writing. Basic statistics and programming skills (either R, python, Perl, C++, or equivalent) is essential. Specialized skills will be taught and developed through mentorship and collaborations.

Additional information

Salary on appointment will be within the range £36,720 to £44,000 per annum depending on qualifications and experience. This is a full-time post for a contract of 19 months, potentially extensible for a further 12 months.

For further information and details of how to apply can be found on the HR website, or contact the Human Resources team on 01603 450814 or nbi.recruitment@nbi.ac.uk quoting reference 1004793. This role meets the criteria for a visa application, and we encourage all qualified candidates to apply.  Please contact the Human Resources Team if you have any questions regarding your application or visa options.

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sectors of society.  The Institute supports equality of opportunity within the workplace and expects all employees to share and display these values.  To support our commitment, we have a range of family, faith and diversity friendly working arrangements to help all staff achieve excellence in their area of work. As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee to offer an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for this vacancy.

The closing date for applications will be 01 December 2024. Interviews will likely be held on 11 December 2024.

The Quadram Institute Bioscience is a registered charity (No. 1058499) and is an Equal Opportunities Employer.