Tenure-Track: Assistant Professors of Comparative Genomics

Description

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (COALS) at Texas A&M University (TAMU) invites applicants for two fully budgeted, 9-month full-time, tenure-track faculty positions at the Assistant Professor level in comparative genomics (Departments of Animal Science and Entomology). This recruitment is part of a cluster hire for the new Center for Comparative Genomics (CCGEN) in collaboration with the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) and Texas A&M AgriLife Research. We seek energetic individuals applying innovative comparative genomic approaches, leveraging long-read sequencing technologies and pangenomic concepts, to better understand the genomic architecture of complex traits, disease conditions, and adaptation in managed and natural populations of agriculturally important vertebrates and/or arthropods. One position will be housed in the Department of Animal Science, and the other in the Department of Entomology. The anticipated start date is August 3, 2026. Salary and start-up packages will be competitive and commensurate with experience and qualifications.

We are particularly seeking individuals with research experience in any of the following four thematic areas:

Vertebrate/Arthropod genomics. Individuals using whole genome comparisons to connect genetic variation to phenotypes relevant to disease and/or toxin susceptibility/resistance, morphology, reproduction, meat animal end product characteristics, feed or water utilization, other characterizations of adaptation, and environmental impact.

Developmental genomics. Individuals leveraging comparisons between distantly related organisms with complete genome assemblies aimed at identifying the fundamental units of gene regulation that dictate development and organismal health and applying this knowledge in a translational framework.

Biodiversity & Conservation genomics. Individuals applying cutting-edge comparative genomic methods at the population and species levels to assess the genetic health of threatened and endangered livestock breeds and other species (beneficials) or invasive species (pests) to improve population management/control.

Structure and function of complex genomic regions. Individuals studying the function and diversity of genomic “dark matter” in complex eukaryotic genomes, including retroelement and satellite variation in normal physiology and disease.

The successful applicants will join a vibrant group of highly collaborative and productive scientists working in the field of comparative genomics across numerous animal species. Faculty members working in this area are distributed primarily across multiple departments in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. These faculty members are integral to the broader TAMU Interdisciplinary Program in Genetics and Genomics (GGEN), a collaborative and nationally and internationally influential group of faculty and their trainees from twenty departments in six colleges. The faculty is supported by state-of-the-art next-generation genomics facilities and computational infrastructure housed in the High-Performance Research Computing center. Beyond the genetics and genomics community, broad collaborative opportunities are available across campus, including the potential to work with clinical veterinarians within the VMBS, and members of interdisciplinary faculties in reproductive biology, toxicology, ecology & evolutionary biology, environmental hhealth, and neuroscience.

The successful candidates will be expected to develop and sustain a vigorous extramurally funded research program. In addition, candidates will be expected to contribute to recruiting and training graduate students in either the GGEN Ph.D. program or the relevant Ph.D. programs in their home Department (Animal Science or Entomology). They will also be expected to teach at the undergraduate and/or graduate-level, conditional on the candidate’s interests and departmental/programmatic needs. The successful candidates will also contribute to departmental and university-wide service efforts. 

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