Postdoctoral Researcher in Oral Phage Bioinformatics

The College of Dentistry at The Ohio State University is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Scholar to join the Kaspar Laboratory within the Division of Biosciences. This exciting opportunity is ideal for researchers with expertise in bioinformatics, metagenomics, viromics, and microbial community analysis who are interested in advancing research on bacteriophages within the oral microbiome.

The successful candidate will lead computational analyses of metagenomic and viromic sequencing datasets while contributing to interdisciplinary research focused on microbial ecology and phage-based therapeutic strategies.

• Perform quality control and processing of metagenomic and viromic sequencing data.
• Assemble microbial and viral genomes from sequencing datasets.
• Identify, reconstruct, and evaluate bacteriophage genomes.
• Conduct viral genome quality assessment, taxonomic classification, and functional annotation.
• Perform bacteriophage-host prediction and comparative genomic analyses.
• Analyze microbial and viral community composition using statistical and ecological methods.
• Conduct diversity analysis, ordination, differential abundance testing, and multivariate statistical analyses.
• Develop and maintain reproducible bioinformatics workflows and computational pipelines.
• Organize and manage sequencing datasets and project documentation.
• Integrate computational findings with laboratory-generated experimental data.
• Present research findings at laboratory meetings, conferences, and collaborative projects.
• Contribute to manuscripts, grant applications, scientific reports, and publications.
• Mentor graduate students and laboratory members in bioinformatics methodologies.

• PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Microbiology, Genomics, or a closely related discipline.
• Extensive experience analyzing metagenomic sequencing datasets.
• Strong command-line bioinformatics skills.
• Experience working in Linux-based or High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments.
• Proficiency in R, Python, or similar programming languages.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and collaborative skills.

Candidates with experience in the following areas are highly encouraged to apply:

• Viral metagenomic analysis
• Viral genome reconstruction and characterization
• Bacteriophage genomics
• Comparative genomics
• Phage-host prediction
• Microbial ecology
• Reproducible workflow development
• HPC computing
• Statistical analysis of sequencing data
• Integration of bacterial and viral metagenomic datasets