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<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: ArialMT;">Postdoctoral Fellow, Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History. New York, USA</p>
<p class="" style="font-family: ArialMT;">The American Museum of Natural History is recruiting an exceptional postdoc to be part of a highly innovative project to optimize techniques in isolating historical <span class="caps">DNA</span> (hDNA), modeling <span class="caps">DNA</span> degradation,
and analyzing <span class="caps">DNA</span> from specimens in the herpetology and ornithology collections at the (<span class="caps">AMNH</span>). This project is funded by a National Science Foundation award to Christopher Raxworthy and Brian T. Smith in
the Division of Vertebrate Zoology, <span class="caps">AMNH</span>.<o:p class=""></o:p></p>
<p class="" style="font-family: ArialMT;">This <span class="caps">NSF</span>-funded project aims to develop efficient and open-source protocols for yielding genome-scale molecular data from typical traditional museum specimens, based on rigorous experiments
using time-series collections at the <span class="caps">AMNH</span>. Museum specimens of amphibians, reptiles, and birds will be sampled for <span class="caps">DNA</span> across two collecting periods of: 1) <1–30 years for field-frozen, dry and fluid preserved
voucher tissues, all taken from the same specimens for which alternative <span class="caps">DNA</span> prep types will be directly compared; and 2) 30–150 years, for older traditional voucher specimens which lack frozen tissue samples. This combined approach
will determine the optimal source and extraction methods for hDNA, develop improved methods for reverse crosslinking with formalin-fixed <span class="caps">DNA</span>, and provide a much deeper understanding of how <span class="caps">DNA</span> degrades due
to exposure to formalin, alcohol, tissue buffers, and archival storage time. This project will also develop pipelines for bioinformatics processing of hDNA, to better detect contamination, evaluate the effects of hDNA on phylogenetic inference, and improve
the utility of hDNA in all aspects of comparative biology.<o:p class=""></o:p></p>
<p class="" style="font-family: ArialMT;">Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: conduct and co-design experimental tests of <span class="caps">DNA</span> extraction; prepare samples for molecular sequencing; analyze molecular data; model <span class="caps">DNA</span> degradation
across sample types and time; manage project internet portal and web pages; co-mentor undergraduate and high school students; co-develop best-practices for bioinformatics processing of hDNA; and prepare results for publication as lead author. The postdoc will
have opportunities to present their work at conferences, attend various professional development activities, and get to participate on an expedition to Madagascar to collect samples for the project. Currently, this is a 2.5 year term position.</p>
<p class="" style="font-family: ArialMT;"><o:p class=""></o:p></p>
<p class="" style="font-family: ArialMT;">Required experience</p>
<p class="" style="font-family: ArialMT;">Ph.D. or equivalent in evolutionary biology, computational biology, or related fields and demonstrated record of productivity and publications. Experience with <span class="caps">DNA</span> extraction, next-generation
sequencing, wetlab methods (ideally including ‘clean room’ <span class="caps">DNA</span> labs), computer programming (e.g., python; R), genomics, molecular evolution, and vertebrate biology.</p>
<p class="" style="font-family: ArialMT;"><o:p class=""></o:p></p>
<p class="" style="font-family: ArialMT;"> For full details about this position please see:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: ArialMT;"><a href="https://careers.amnh.org/postings/2397" target="_blank" class=""><span class="" style="color: blue;">https://careers.amnh.org/postings/2397</span></a><o:p class=""></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: ArialMT;">Application review will begin on March 29, 2021, with a desired start date of July 1, 2021</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: ArialMT;">Please contact Christopher Raxworthy (<a href="mailto:rax@amnh.org" class="">rax@amnh.org</a>) with any questions regarding the position.</p>
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<div class="">Christopher J. Raxworthy</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -22.5pt;">Associate Curator, Division of Vertebrate Zoology</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -22.5pt;">Professor, Richard Gilder Graduate School, AMNH</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -22.5pt;"><o:p class=""></o:p></p>
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<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">Department of Herpetology</div>
<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">American Museum of Natural History</div>
<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">200 Central Park West (at 79th Street)</div>
<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">New York, NY 10024-5192, USA</div>
<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">tel. 212 769 5802 (direct), 5850 (dept.)</div>
<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">fax 212 769 5031</div>
<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><a href="mailto:rax@amnh.org" class="">rax@amnh.org</a></div>
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<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><a href="http://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/christopher-j.-raxworthy" class="">http://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/christopher-j.-raxworthy</a></div>
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