Postdoctoral Research Associate in Plant-Microbe interactions

Classification Title:

Postdoc Aso

Job Description:

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is creating an environment that affirms community across all dimensions. We particularly welcome applicants who can contribute to such an environment through their scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and professional service. If an accommodation due to a disability is needed to apply for this position, please call 352-392-2477 or the Florida Relay System at 800-955-8771 (TDD) or visit Accessibility at UF .

This is a 12-month non-tenure-accruing position that will be 100% research (Florida Agricultural Experiment Station), available in the Rollins Lab, Plant Pathology Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, at the University of Florida. Duties will include exploring mechanisms of plant susceptibility and resistance in Nicotiana benthamiana as a model host for the laurel wilt pathogen Harringtonia lauricola. Primary duties will include transgenic, exogenous RNAi, and genome-engineering strategies to create plants with enhanced disease tolerance or resistance. Ancillary -omic, cytological, comparative biology, molecular and physiological studies exploring disease compatibility and incompatibility in this pathosystem will be pursued.

The postdoctoral associate will join a local team of graduate and undergraduate students, a research assistant and the principal investigator, Dr. Jeff Rollins, on the main campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL working to understand the molecular basis of disease compatibility and incompatibility in the laurel wilt pathosystem. This focus is one within the larger mission of our recently funded USDA/NIFA-SCRI project to seek short- and long-term solutions to managing laurel wilt of avocado. The postdoctoral associate will work cooperatively within this project with other participants and specifically supervise dissertation and undergraduate research and publish results of collaborative as well as independent research.

Background Information:

The Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Florida is one of the largest in the US, with 37 faculty located in Gainesville or at eight Research and Education Centers around the state. Our graduate curriculum is extensive, and our 49 graduate students and 27 post-doctoral associates are active in numerous professional development activities within UF, nationally and internationally.

The University of Florida is a Land-Grant, Sea-Grant, and Space-Grant institution, encompassing virtually all academic and professional disciplines, with an enrollment of more than 56,000 students.  UF is a member of The Association of American Universities.  The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences includes the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Florida Sea Grant program, and encompasses 16 on-campus academic departments and schools, 12 Research and Educational Centers (REC) located throughout the state, 6 Research sites/demonstration units administered by RECs or academic departments, and Florida Cooperative Extension Service offices in all 67 counties (counties operate and maintain). The School of Natural Resources and Environment is an interdisciplinary unit housed in IFAS and managed by several colleges on campus.  UF/IFAS employs nearly 4,500 people, which includes approximately 990 salaried faculty and 1,400 permanent support personnel located in Gainesville and throughout the state. IFAS, one of the nation’s largest agricultural and natural resources research and education organizations, is administered by a Vice President and four deans: the Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the Dean for Extension and Director of the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, the Dean for Research and Director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Dean for the College of Veterinary Medicine.  UF/IFAS also engages in cooperative work with Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.

Expected Salary:

Commensurate with education and experience

Minimum Requirements:

A doctorate (foreign equivalent acceptable) in Plant Molecular or Cellular Biology, Plant Pathology, or closely related disciplines is required. Experience with molecular cloning, genet