Available positions

Graduate Students

Prospective students that would like to join the UC Davis graduate program, please follow these instructions for applying. Please refrain from sending individual emails to faculty and instead clearly state in your application materials what your interests are and potential areas/people that you would like to work with.

Graduate students that have been admitted to the program and are interested in joining the lab are welcome to send me an email to meet and discuss further. Generally there are no prerequisites that I am looking for, although it is expected that students involved in computational projects have mastered basic programming techniques and have core training in computer science or related engineering area. Students that would like to do experimental work should have some experience with wetlab and a basic understanding of scripting languages, like Perl. Having said that, what matters most is enthousiasm, dedication and a record of excellence in what you are doing.

Postdoctoral Researchers

General Call: Postdoctoral positions in Computational Biology/Parallel Processing/Optimization/Machine Learning

Description: We are seeking computationally-oriented postdoctoral researchers who would like to work on projects related to metagenomics, evolutionary biology and synthetic biology. Projects will involve modeling and simulation of multi-scale biological systems in supercomputer environments (including Blue Waters, a Petascale NSF computer that will become operational in 2011). The successful candidates will become proficient in next-generation supercomputer architectures, will lead groundbreaking projects in computational biology and will closely collaborate with the Blue Waters Team. Excellent knowledge of object oriented programing is needed and previous programming experience with parallel processing/MPI/OpenMP is desired. Applicants must have a Ph.D. in a biological, computational, engineering or mathematical field. Background in optimization or machine learning is a plus.

Lab Environment: UC Davis has a prestigious engineering program and ranks among the top research universities in the biological and agricultural sciences. The lab is part of the Department of Computer Science and UC Davis Genome Center, located in the new UC Davis Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility that houses state-of-the-art metabolomics, proteomics, expression analysis and DNA technologies.

How to apply: Please send your CV, a research statement of prior and future research and a list of three references to Dr. Ilias Tagkopoulos (email)

Postdoctoral position in Computational Biology: Microbial Ecology

Description: Unicellular organisms exhibit a sophisticated behavioral repertoire both in an individual (e.g. stochastic switching, persistence, bet-hedging) and social (e.g. symbiosis, cooperation, biofilm formation) level. Although such behaviors have been observed in various systems, our knowledge is limited on the emergence and modus operandi of the underlying mechanisms. Biological phenomena, processes and environmental factors may heavily impact the evolution and characteristics of these strategies. Multi-scale studies are difficult in laboratory settings as the complexity of living organisms prohibits the application of tractable methods during evolution. Computational biology can help in this respect either by discovering relevant evidence in available metagenomic datasets or by providing models and making testable predictions. We currently seek a post-doctoral scientist who will lead the effort to characterize the underlying network dynamics through modeling, analysis and large-scale simulations.

Qualifications: Applicants must have a Ph.D. in a biological, computational, engineering or mathematical field, with excellent programming skills, especially in scripting and object-oriented programming. Knowledge of parallel computing environments and parallel programming styles is highly desirable, as most codes will run on top supercomputer systems (including the Blue Waters supercomputer). A successful candidate will have a good knowledge of biology, will be dedicated and enthusiastic on working on biology-related questions and will have a proven record of success. A generous salary and benefits package is offered.

Lab Environment: UC Davis ranks among the top research universities in the biological and agricultural sciences. The lab is part of the UC Davis Genome Center, located in the new UC Davis Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility that houses state-of-the-art metabolomics, proteomics, expression analysis and DNA technologies. For more information please visit www.genomecenter.ucdavis.edu

How to apply: Please send your CV, a research statement and a list of three references to Dr. Tagkopoulos, either by email or by mail to:

Ilias Tagkopoulos, Ph.D.
Genome Center
451 Health Sciences Drive, Room #5313
UC Davis
Davis, CA 95616
USA

Tel: (530) 752-2721
Fax: (530) 752-0436

Postdoctoral positions in Systems Biology and Microbial Ecology

Qualifications: Applicants must have a Ph.D. in life sciences, with demonstrated skills in molecular biology, cell culture and genetics. Studies will entail gene expression techniques (quantitative real-time PCR, microarrays, knockouts etc). Basic programming experience in a scripting language is a plus. Successful candidates will be passionate about their work, will have a proven record of success and will be able to conduct research independently. A generous salary and benefits package is offered.