Research Specialist

Job Description

About Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture, IHA

The Texas A&M AgriLife, IHA, is the world’s first academic institute to bring together precision nutrition, responsive agriculture, and social and behavioral research to reduce diet-related chronic disease and lower health care costs in a way that supports producers and the environment.

• Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture

Texas A&M AgriLife is comprised of the following Texas A&M University System members:

• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

• Texas A&M AgriLife Research

• College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University

• Texas A&M Forest Service

• Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory

As the nation’s largest most comprehensive agriculture program, Texas A&M AgriLife brings together a college and four state agencies focused on agriculture and life sciences within The Texas A&M University System. With over 5, employees and a presence in every county across the state, Texas A&M AgriLife is uniquely positioned to improve lives, environments and the Texas economy through education, research, extension and service.

Click here to learn more about how you can be a part of AgriLife and make a difference in the world!

Position Information

We are seeking a Research Specialist to contribute to research focused on improving the nutritional quality of crops through plant genetics, genomics, metabolomics, ionomics, biofortification, and functional genetics. The Research Specialist will collaborate with USDA and IHA research teams to develop bioinformatics pipelines, methods, and analyses for a variety of multi-omics projects. Additional responsibilities may include supporting research involving animal models, as well as human metabolomics, transcriptomics, and statistical studies.

Essential Duties/Tasks

• In consultation with USDA PIs, designs and executes experiments.

• Establishes bioinformatic pipelines for transcriptomics, single cell RNA-seq, metabolomics analyses using High Performance Computer clusters.

• Works with raw data from mass-spectrometry instruments for statistical analysis.

• Organizes and uses raw NGS data for mapping to reference genomes including DNA and RNA-seq Illumina and PacBio reads.

• Contributes to the development of single cell RNA-seq and spatial RNA analytical pipelines and visualizations of data.

• Develops read mapping and SNP calling pipelines for analyzing genetic variation in agricultural populations.

• Performs quantitative genetics analyses (eg, QTL mapping) and genome wide association studies (GWAS).

• Assists in manuscript preparation and presentation of scientific results.

• Meticulously documents bioinformatics pipelines and computer code using github and other tools.

• Manages large datasets for long-term storage.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelors in any of the following: plant, animal and/or human biology, plant biotechnology, bioinformatics, computer science, genetics, or other closely related fields.

• 10 years of relevant experience

• Ability to work independently and in a multi-disciplinary environment.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

• Desire and ability to work collaboratively and help maintain a supportive environment for all team members.

• Highly organized and detail oriented.

• Professional demeanor.

• Ability to multi-task and establish effective working relationships.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Ph.D. or equivalent experience in plant biology, genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, or related field

• Experience in multi-omics data integration (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, ionomics)

• Familiarity with biofortification strategies and functional genomics

• Experience with statistical analysis and modeling in biological research

Other Requirements:

Work beyond normal office hours and/or work on weekends as needed.

Ability to lift or move light, moderate, and heavy objects. Ability to exert light force.

What You Need to Know

Salary: Compensation for this position is commensurate based on the selected candidate’s qualifications.

Position Funding: This position is funded from a grant and/or contract funding which is renewed under the provisions of the grantor of the contract. This initial position is limited to 2 years upon hire date. Your position, therefore, is contingent upon continuation of funding of these grants and/or contracts and your satisfactory job performance.

Why Work at Texas A&M AgriLife?

When you choose to work for Texas A&M AgriLife, you become part of an organization that is an established leader in agriculture and life sciences with a wide range of capabilities to meet the needs of our statewide, national, and international constituents.

In addition, Texas A&M AgriLife offers a comprehensive benefit package including the following:

• Health, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance with Texas A&M AgriLife contributing to employee health and basic life premiums

• 12-15 days of annual paid holidays

• Up to eight hours of paid sick leave and at least eight hours of paid vacation each month

• Automatic enrollment in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas

• Employee Wellness Initiative for Texas A&M AgriLife