Research Opportunity in Intestinal Metabolome and Microbiome
*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.
A research opportunity is available with the the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory (APDL) located in Beltsville, Maryland.
The participant will be involved with a project entitled "Molecular Approaches to Control Intestinal Parasites that Affect the Microbiome in Swine and Small Ruminants". Specifically, the project will involve conducting biological experiments that aim to determine the change in the intestinal metabolome and microbiome during parasitic infection and after anti-parasitic clearance, including understanding the molecular mechanisms by which parasites modulate intestinal inflammation and evaluating the potential impact of a novel therapeutic protein Cry5B on the native gut microbiome in farm animals.
Under the guidance of a mentor, the participant will be involved with the following activities, but not limited to:
- Assist in animal experimentation using novel or conventional antiparasitic drugs
- Collect biological specimens for microbiome studies, metabolome analysis, and parasitological and immunological assays
- Extract total DNA or RNA samples from the gut or environmental samples
- Construct sequencing libraries for next-generation sequencing
- Conduct computational and /or bioinformatics analysis using established or novel data pipelines
- Characterize the dynamics of the gut resistome, the collection of antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) and their precursors, in response to parasitic infections and anthelmintic treatments
This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR), and foreign nationals. Non-U.S. citizen applicants should refer to the Guidelines for Non-U.S. Citizens Details page of the program website for information about the valid immigration statuses that are acceptable for program participation.
For more information about the ARS Research Participation Program, please visit the Program Website.
Qualifications
The qualified candidate should be currently pursuing or have received a bachelor's or master's degree in one of the relevant fields.
Preferred skills/experience:
- Proficiency in programming languages, such as Python, Perl, and C++
- Familiarity with Linux operating system and ability to use the Linux command line extensively
- Knowledge and practice of SAS and R Statistics
If you have questions, send an email to USDA-ARS@orau.org. Please include the reference code for this opportunity (USDA-ARS-2020-0058) in your email.