[BiO BB] Postdoctoral Research Associate Positions in Bioinformatics

[Dr. Dennis R. Livesay]

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral Research Associate positions in the lab of Prof. Dennis R. Livesay starting approximately August 2006. A current challenge of bioinformatics is to be able to predict protein functional sites from sequence and structure. This project builds upon prior success of phylogenetic motifs (PMs) to identify functional regions from sequence. PMs are alignment fragments that mirror the overall familial phylogeny (see La et al., Proteins, 2005 and La & Livesay, BMC Bioinformatics, 2005). One of the primary goals of this project is to extend the PM approach to identify specific catalytic sites (versus functional site regions) using a neural network and/or machine learning approach. Also, the successful candidate will be expected to learn and apply a wide variety of other state-of-the-art functional site prediction techniques, including: evolutionary trace, ConSurf, topology-based approaches, strain energy-based approaches, etc. 
 
Candidates should be highly motivated with a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Biology, Computer Science or related discipline. Candidates should have prior experience in the area of Bioinformatics and/or Computational Biophysics with a demonstrated ability to conduct research independently. Demonstrated knowledge of basic sequence and structure analysis techniques is required. Candidates are also expected to have strong programming skills. Knowledge of UNIX/LINUX operating systems is essential; prior experience with grid/cluster computing is considered a bonus, but not absolutely required. Prior experience with database design, MySQL and CGI programming is also desired.
 
More information can be obtained at http://www.csupomona.edu/~drlivesay. Note that starting in August, Prof. Livesay will be moving his lab to the Bioinformatics Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, which is where the successful candidate will be employed. Applicants interested in applying should send curriculum vitae and graduate transcripts (a copy is okay) to Prof. Dennis R. Livesay, Dept. of Chemistry, Cal Poly Pomona, 3801 W. Temple Ave, Pomona, CA 91768 or electronically to drlivesay at csupomona.edu. Applicants should also arrange for three letters of reference to be sent to the same address; applicants should not send reference letters themselves. Full consideration will be to applications received before June 1, 2006. UNC-Charlotte is an EOE/AA employer. 

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Dr. Dennis R. Livesay 
Associate Professor & Graduate Coordinator 
Department of Chemistry, Cal Poly Pomona 
909.869.4409 (office), 909.869.4344 (fax) 
http://www.csupomona.edu/~drlivesay