Research Associate (Fixed Term)

The Department of Genetics is seeking to appoint a postdoctoral Research Associate to start as soon as possible to work with Professor Eske Willerslev and Professor Richard Durbin on studies into the paleo-ecogenomics of viruses of plants and microbes.

This post will contribute to the Ancient Environmental Genomics Initiative for Sustainability (AEGIS) international consortium project led by Professor Eske Willerslev from the University of Copenhagen, with substantial input from the University of Cambridge https://globe.ku.dk/research/ancient-environmental-genomics-initiative-for-sustainability/.

In this project a very wide range of ancient sediment DNA samples will be sequenced from a mixture of agricultural and extreme environments, alongside metagenomic and single-species present-day reference genome assembled using long read data. The research associate will work on the viral component of the environmental DNA samples, both ancient and modern. They will contribute to lab work on the extraction of viral material, and also to the computational data analysis, chacterising the virome present within and across samples, and its place in the ecological system including interactions with prokaryotic, fungal and plant hosts. A particular goal is to identify genetic and ecological shifts associated with past climate change, and the potential for using this knowledge in building more robust future agro-ecosystems.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available until 30 September 2026 in the first instance.