Postdoctoral Research Associate

Job description

Job Title
Postdoctoral Research Associate


Agency
Texas A&M Agrilife Research


Department
Horticultural Sciences



Proposed Minimum Salary
Commensurate



Job Location
College Station, Texas



Job Type
Staff



Job Description

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Texas A&M Agrilife Research

Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center, Horticultural Sciences


Required Education: Doctoral Degree in related field


Preferred Experience: Experience in research related to ‘foods for health’ and secondary metabolites.


Responsibilities:

+ Lead and coordinate lab activities, including scheduling, parts and supplies requisition, access, safety, and compliance.

+ Perform preventive maintenance on laboratory equipment to keep them in optimal working condition.

+ Conduct experiments related to identifying metabolites in plant and biological samples.

+ Develop and conduct research projects related to a systems-wide approach to increase consumption of vegetables, fruits, and ‘foods for health’.

+ Work on research teams and collaborate with other experts to achieve targeted goals of the melon integrated project.

+ Conduct field trials and travel within Texas as needed.

+ Participate in grant writing and collaborative research activities leading to peer-reviewed publications.

+ Work with plant disease samples and understand the relationship between diseases, pests of vegetables, fruits, and potential metabolites.

+ Conduct experiments related to the use of nanotechnology in agriculture in the field and greenhouse settings.

+ Maintain impeccable record-keeping, troubleshoot instruments, and conduct field experiments.

+ Develop and conduct research projects such as analysis and method development of bioactive compounds.

+ Investigate changes in bioactive compounds during postharvest handling processes.

+ Collaborate with industry partners and collect samples from various locations in Texas.

+ Train undergraduates, graduate students, and visiting scientists.

+ Develop and conduct hands-on training and short courses as needed.

+ Write grant proposals, manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals, and reports.

+ Perform duties assigned by the Director of the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center.

+ Other duties as required.


Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

+ Excellent oral and written communication skills.

+ Ability to design experiments independently with limited assistance.

+ Competency with laboratory work and use of analytical instrumentation.

+ Proven track record of peer-reviewed publications and scholarly work in related areas.

+ Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with firm deadlines.

+ Ability to maintain and troubleshoot analytical instrumentation.

+ Ability to write and follow standard operating procedures.

+ Ability to work effectively in a team environment.

+ Ability to multi-task and work cooperatively with others.

+ Ability to prepare safety and equipment use manuals and analytical methods as needed.

+ Ability to communicate constructively with other scientists and collaborators.

+ Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Outlook, etc.).

+ Ability to work evening and/or weekend hours as needed.



+ Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:


+ Ability to conduct independent and collaborative research on identifying, characterizing, and functionally analyzing diverse metabolites in fruits and vegetables.

+ Ability to investigate the influence of genetic and environmental factors on the biosynthetic pathways of metabolites in different fruit and vegetable species.

+ Ability to link abiotic and biotic stress with secondary metabolites to develop climate-resilient vegetables, specifically tomatoes.

+ Knowledge in linking bioactives, whole food, and microbiota.

+ Ability to interpret analytical data from LC/MS, GC-MS, Raman spectroscopy, and NMR instrumentation.

+ Knowledge of identification, characterization, quantitation, and metabolic profiling of bioactive natural products in plants.

+ Proficiency in advanced analytical techniques for material characterization.

+ High-quality research ability as evidenced by a strong publication record.

+ Knowledge of sustainable food production and plant-based food trends.

+ Familiarity with computational modeling of structure-function relationship

+ Experience in identifying metabolites in biological samples.

+ Sufficient knowledge in statistical analysis tools (e.g., SAS, R, XLstat, Multivariate analysis).

+ Manage lab group, supplies, and inventory.

+ Perform assay development for new compounds and ingredients.

+ Participate in analyzing and disseminating data results, preparing manuscripts, reports, scientific papers/presentations, and grant proposals.

+ Provide advice and assistance to other lab members and mentor graduate and undergraduate students





All positions are security-sensitive.

Applicants are subject to a criminal history investigation, and employment is contingent upon the institution’s verification of credentials and/or other information required by the institution’s procedures, including the completion of the criminal history check.


Equal Opportunity/Veterans/Disability Employer.

Required Skill Profession

Other General