The Biofuel Challenge—Making Clean, Green, Renewable Energy a Cost-Effective Reality

In the fight against global warming, the need to develop clean, green, and renewable sources of energy has become an international call to action. The Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a newly established U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center, is responding by assembling an outstanding team of bioenergy scientists and researchers to meet the challenge.

JBEI is a multi-organizational research center that comprises world-class resources and expertise in one facility, which is located in Emeryville, California. The goal of JBEI is to use rapidly advancing scientific techniques, such as systems and synthetic biology, to accelerate the development of the nation’s biofuels industry. JBEI is managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with partner employees from five internationally recognized scientific institutions: Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the University of California at Davis, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Sandians working at JBEI’s Emeryville facility are essential partners in this aggressive bioenergy effort and will provide the technical expertise needed to produce clean, efficient, and cost-effective biofuels on a commercial scale.

Job Description
As a Sandia employee at JBEI, this postdoctoral appointee will help plan and execute experiments, analyze data, and develop computational infrastructure to support JBEI efforts in the synthetic biological design and characterization of microbial pathways for biomass deconstruction and biofuel production. The postdoc will help develop both general and specific engineering applications, with a focus on biological-circuit inference and characterization, as well as the means for the optimal use of JBEI capabilities in gene expression microarrays, protein and metabolite mass spectrometry, enzymology, imaging, and gene deletion experiments.

Job responsibilities include the following: (1) researching new methods of computational and experimental synthetic biology with applications to biofuel research; (2) developing new experimental designs and analyses for the optimal use of comparative functional genomics and quantitative biological measurement to discover function, infer biological networks, and engineer/characterize new function in microbes; (3) developing theories into robust software tools and statistical methods that conform to group standards for usability and interoperability; (4) interacting with and assisting a software development team to provide Web-based interfaces to analytical and engineering tools; (5) working with the larger JBEI community to develop effective science and applications for biofuel production; (6) presenting results at group meetings, JBEI retreats, and scientific conferences; and (7) preparing manuscripts for publication.

Required and Desired Qualifications
A recent Ph.D (conferred within the last three years) in a biological science or computer science is required for this position. Candidates must show significant achievement in computational biology and/or microbiological research. Applicants must also have a strong background in genomics, quantitative/systems biology, or synthetic biology. Candidates should have some computational background, preferably in Perl and SQL, as well as firsthand experience with the analysis of biological data sets. Candidates should also be familiar with the standard raw data formats used to describe these measurements. In addition, familiarity with biological-sequence analysis tools is essential for this position.
Desired qualifications for this position include significant experience in bioinformatics and/or molecular biology as well as experience in comparative microbial genomics.

Application Procedure
Apply at Sandia’s employment website: http://public.ca.sandia.gov/casite/careers/. Click on Browse current job openings, and type the Job ID number 61503 into the Keywords box. Click on the Search button to access this job opening, and complete an online application.

Sandia National Laboratories is an Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V. If this position requires a security clearance granted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. citizenship and employee eligibility for clearance processing will be required at the time of hire. If you hold dual citizenship and accept a job offer for a position that requires a DOE-granted security clearance, you may be asked by DOE to renounce your foreign citizenship and retain only your U.S. citizenship.  

To apply: Apply at: http://public.ca.sandia.gov/casite/careers/. Click on Browse current job openings, and type the Job ID number 61503 into the Keywords box. Click on the Search button to access this job opening, and complete an online application.

Sandia National Laboratories is the nation’s premier science and engineering lab for national security and technology innovation. We are a world-class team of staff members, technologists, postdocs, and visiting researchers. We focus on cutting-edge technology ranging from homeland defense, global security, biotechnology, and environmental preservation, to energy and combustion research, computer security, and nuclear defense. Whether it’s writing software for the world’s fastest computers, leading a national initiative in nanotechnology, or developing intelligent microsystems, Sandians are leading the way—and they are doing it with tools and facilities that rank among the world’s best. To learn more, visit http://public.ca.sandia.gov/casite.