Two postdoctoral fellows within metaomic analysis of microbial communities at Norwegian University of Life Sciences

The vacant positions are funded by Novo Nordisk Fonden (NNF) and the Research Council of Norway (RCN), and are part of a collaboration between several research groups at the Faculty of Biosciences (BIOVIT) and Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Sciences (KBM), mainly the Microbial Ecology and Meta-Omics ( MEMO ), Protein Engineering and Proteomics ( PEP ) and Bioprocess Technology and Biorefining ( BioRef ). We will hire one person for 2 years, and one person for 3 years on the following projects:

SuPA[cow]: Sustainable production of animals by optimizing the feed-microbiome-host axis.
Trained immunity and nutritional programming for resilient salmon (RCN)
DIGI: Digitalization in operation, monitoring and control of large-scale biogas plants (RCN)
These projects will examine the interplay between host-associated microbiome function and host phenotype. They will go beyond standard omic-style analyses and integrate metadata, metagenomic and metaproteomic layers in one collective analytical effort, and will additionally endeavor to include all keystone microbial genomes from bacterial, archaeal, viral and eukaryotic (fungi and protozoa) origins. Joint network analysis of expression data from both active gut microbiota and host tissue will attempt to identify key correlations between particular microbial populations and host metabolism, in particular for animals that exhibit varying performance metrics and methane levels. Taken together, it aims to integrate meta-data and multi-omics to describe the interplay between feed, host animal and its associated microbiota. For the DIGI-project, microbial dynamics in a commercial biogas plant will be investigated and possible links to process performance identified.

Main tasks

Generation of metagenomic datasets and population genomes that are representative of host-associated microbiomes.
Functional meta-omic characterisation of microbiota using metabolic reconstruction and quantitative metaproteomics.
Identification of key metabolic pathways using regulatory network analysis of meta-omic data generated from microbiome(s) as well as host tissues and/or metadata.
Academic Qualifications and desired experiences

The main purpose of the post-doctoral position is to qualify for work in high-level scientific positions. A PhD degree in microbiology/bioinformatics is required.

Further details:
Two postdoctoral fellows within metaomic analysis of microbial communities at Norwegian University of Life Sciences