ARS Office/Lab and Location: This postdoctoral research opportunity is currently available with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS) at the Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research Unit located in Aberdeen, Idaho. However, the workplace may vary and is flexible.
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: This appointment is supported by the USDA-ARS barley and oat research project in Aberdeen which goals are to enhance barley and oat productivity, quality, and stress resistance by combing traditional, molecular, and genomics methods. The incumbent will collaborate with other scientists in the unit and other institutes in the United States and other countries to develop genomic and bioinformatics resources for annotating and comparing the genomes of cultivated and wild barley and for supporting the barley genomics, genetics, and pre-breeding research. The research activities the selected candidate will be involved with include: 1. Conduct genome-wide annotation and comparison of assembled barley genomes. 2. Develop and/or utilize software for analyzing high through put genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic data in barley and its relatives. 3. Create and design repeat database for public access. 4. Establish and maintain pipelines for barley genomics. 5. Write manuscripts and present research at scientific conferences.
Mentor: The mentor for this opportunity is Dongying Gao (dongying.gao@usda.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentor.