USDA-ARS Postdoctoral Fellowship in Plant Gene Regulatory Networks
*Applications are reviewed on a rolling-basis.
ARS Office/Lab and Location: A research opportunity is currently available with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), located in West Lafeyette, Indiana.
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency with a mission to find solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table. ARS will deliver cutting-edge, scientific tools and innovative solutions for American farmers, producers, industry, and communities to support the nourishment and well-being of all people; sustain our nation’s agroecosystems and natural resources; and ensure the economic competitiveness and excellence of our agriculture. The vision of the agency is to provide global leadership in agricultural discoveries through scientific excellence.
Research Project: Understanding how legumes sense, integrate, and respond to nitrogen and carbon/energy status through dynamic control of gene expression will enable the development of strategies to achieve maximum crop yield and quality in future climates. This project aims to build high quality predictive gene networks inferred from transcriptomics by incorporating epigenomic data measured across nitrogen and CO2 treatments. We hypothesize that because epigenetic/chromatin states are known to influence transcription, their inclusion will enhance the accuracy of our networks and improve our ability to identify key transcription factors involved in coordinating carbon-nitrogen homeostasis. The goals are to generate data on the physiological, transcriptomic, and epigenetic responses to nitrogen-by-CO2 treatments in two common bean genotypes and to create and evaluate an epigenetic-enhanced network inference tool.
Learning Objectives: The candidate will gain experience in developing multiomic machine learning models to infer gene regulatory networks. They will learn how to incorporate validated data to improve network predictions and test the accuracy of the networks. They will also gain experience in cross-species network comparisons.
Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Matthew Brooks (matthew.d.brooks@usda.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentor(s).
Anticipated Appointment Start Date: August 2024. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.
Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for eight months, but may be renewed upon recommendation of ARS and is contingent on the availability of funds.
Level of Participation: The appointment is full time.
Participant Stipend: The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience.
Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens only.
ORISE Information: This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and ARS. Participants do not become employees of USDA, ARS, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.
Questions: Please visit our Program Website. After reading, if you have additional questions about the application process, please email ORISE.ARS.Midwest@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.
Qualifications
The qualified candidate should be currently pursuing or have received a doctoral degree in the one of the relevant fields.
Eligibility Requirements
- Citizenship: U.S. Citizen Only
- Degree: Doctoral Degree.
- Academic Level(s): Graduate Students or Postdoctoral.