The position is in the lab of Professor Charles Yarish. It is part of a large ARPA-E grant to develop open-ocean grown sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima). Saccharina latissima is a cosmopolitan large multicellular brown alga or kelp. It is phylogenetically distant from both plants and animals, having diverged from green algae early in the evolution of eukaryotes. The project continues to explore the population structure of New England sugar kelp, its genome and take advantage of its biphasic life cycle to select for desirable traits by using innovative genomic selection methodologies.
Duties and Responsibilities
In research for this project, the Postdoctoral Research Associate will collaborate with scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Northeast Fisheries Science Aquaculture Labs, National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA), Cornell University’s Plant Breeding Labs, Incheon National University, University of Alaska and the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will be jointly responsible for ecophysiological work associated with our kelp-breeding program in association with PI and a post-doctoral associate and will communicate and write reports and papers. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will continue to oversee the isolation and maintenance of the kelp cultures at UConn from populations throughout New England and The Gulf of Alaska; work with colleagues at Cornell University in the implementation and design of the breeding program at two farm sites in New England. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will collect all breeding data (phenotyping), run ecophysiological and assist in maintaining the kelp cultures in the laboratory with our other post-doctoral associate.
Qualifications
An earned Ph.D. in Marine Science, Botany, Biology, or a closely related field
Expertise in marine phycology
Experience or interest in the isolation, cultivation, and ecophysiology of macroalgae, especially kelp
Proven scientific writing ability and communication skills
Appointment Term
This is a 12-month appointment with the possibility of renewal contingent upon satisfactory performance and availability of funding.
Application deadline: 11th June 2020
For more information and how to apply, click here.
