The Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary is accepting applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar in applying microbial metagenomics and molecular biology to oil field samples and enrichment cultures.

Job Description:
The postdoc will be part of an interdisciplinary research team that uses metagenomics and molecular biology to track and analyze environmental and industrial samples. The postdoc will join a large and dynamic team that enjoys close collaboration with other researchers in environmental microbiology and public health microbiology, spanning different departments and faculties at the University of Calgary. This research culture includes collaboration with industry from large global corporations to local start-ups working on energy and environment related issues.

The successful applicant will join the Geomicrobiology Group led by Prof. Casey Hubert consisting of approximately 20 other researchers (staff, post docs, graduate students and undergraduate students). The post-doc will have opportunity to collaborate within this team, mentor students and interact with corporate industry seeking solutions and input on geomicrobiology challenges and opportunities. The Geomicrobiology Group has funding from Mitacs, NSERC, Genome Canada and other industry and government sources. The post-doc will have the chance to contribute to funding applications, as well as prepare manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals based on research findings.

The successful candidate will be based at the University of Calgary and their research will focus on archived samples from oil industry assets (e.g., pipelines, oil reservoirs, tanks, water samples) and performing DNA extraction, metagenomic sequencing, bioinformatic analysis, and digital PCR assay design and testing. Hydrogenase-containing bacteria and archaea as well as sulfate-reducing bacteria and archaea are high priorities for this project; these bacteria can cause corrosion in traditional oil field contexts as well as related to renewable energy applications involving underground H2 storage where additional risks include resource degradation via hydrogenotrophic metabolism.

The work will involve extensive metagenomic analysis using the latest in bioinformatics tools and software. This project will leverage existing research capacity in field sampling followed by molecular detection using nucleic acid sequencing (amplicon and/or shotgun) based approaches using in-house short and long read sequencing platforms. Applying or developing bioinformatics analysis pipelines will be an important part of this work.

This postdoc will play a key role in the Geomicrobiology Group’s efforts to disseminate information. There will be opportunities to contribute to peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations, including oil industry-targeted conferences with opportunities to pitch the benefits of geomicrobiology to non-microbiologists (including geologists, engineers and business development professionals).