Postdoc à McGill : microbiome research associated with marine oil spills and spill clean-up approach

Postdoc position for microbiome research associated with marine oil spills and spill clean-up approaches

Prof. Lyle G. Whyte
Canada Research Chair – Polar Microbiology

Prof. Whyte’s Polar Microbiology Research Group at McGill University currently has PostDoct position (1 - 2 years) to study microbial communities associated with marine oil spills and spill clean-up approaches.

Ship traffic in the Arctic has significantly increased over the last few years and is projected to increase further in the near future. This rise in ship traffic increases the risk of an oil spill in the Arctic Ocean. Canada has one of the most extensive coast lines in the world with big parts of it situated along the Arctic Ocean. It is therefore one of the countries that would be the most directly impacted by such oil spills. As a result the Canadian federal government has initiated a program to improve oil spill response technology within the Oceans Protection Plan (https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/canada-oceansprotection- plan.html). Our project within this initiative is to explore the role of microbes in the natural attenuation of oil spills and to test how the microbial communities are influenced by common approaches for spill clean-up such as the addition of nutrients.

We are looking for one postdoctoral fellow (1-2 years) that is motivated to contribute to this project. The project, which is a large collaborative effort (McGill University, National Research Council Canada (NRC), Fisheries and Oceans Canada) will combine aspects of marine microbiology, microbial ecology/ -omics and ecotoxicology. Methodologically the project will combine laboratory and in situ microcosm and mesocosm incubations, fieldwork, and molecular techniques such as amplicon sequencing, metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. The anticipated start date of the position is January 2020. The successful candidate will be supervised by Prof. Lyle Whyte in the Natural Resource Sciences department of McGill University, at the beautiful MacDonald Campus located in Saint Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec. and be Dr. Charles Greer of the National Research Council of Canada.

Required qualifications

Our ideal candidate:
• should have a strong background in microbiology and molecular biology, “-omics” / bioinformatics, and a strong interest in polar microbiology.
• Is equally comfortable working as a member of a team as well as working independently
• Highly motivated to perform field research activities in the Canadian arctic
• Interested in obtaining project management and HQP supervision skills.

Proficiency in spoken and written English is mandatory.

Please send a detailed CV and contact information of three references, to:
Lyle Whyte
Professor
Canada Research Chair – Polar Microbiology
Department of Natural Resource Sciences,
Macdonald Campus of McGill University,
21,111 Lakeshore Road,
Ste Anne de Bellevue,
Quebec, Canada. H9X3V9.

Tel. 514-398-7889 Fax: 514-398-7990

Email: Lyle.Whyte@mcgill.ca

Start date: January 2020.

Application deadline: Open until filled