Postdoctoral Fellow – Gut Microbiota Research

About the role

The Seekatz lab in the Department of Biological Sciences at Clemson University is seeking a postdoctoral fellow to investigate interactions between anaerobic gut microbes, with a focus on commensal Clostridia and Lachnospiraceae families.

Key responsibilities

• Design and execute in vitro experiments with anaerobic bacterial cultures.
• Maintain and manipulate anaerobic gut microbes and perform bacterial genetics studies.
• Conduct mouse model experiments, including germ‑free and gnotobiotic handling.
• Prepare and analyze next‑generation sequencing libraries (metagenomic, amplicon‑based, genomic).
• Develop and run bioinformatics pipelines to integrate laboratory and sequencing data.
• Manage project timelines, data, and contribute to manuscript preparation.

Required profile

• Ph.D. in Microbiology or a closely related field.
• Record of peer‑reviewed publications.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively.
• Strong organizational and project‑management skills.

Required skills

• Anaerobic bacterial cultivation.
• Bacterial genetics and physiology.
• Mouse models (germ‑free/gnotobiotic).
• Next‑generation sequencing library preparation.
• Metagenomic and amplicon data analysis.
• Bioinformatics pipeline development.
• Data management.

What we offer

• NIH‑funded 12‑month appointment with potential extension.
• Access to state‑of‑the‑art laboratory and animal facilities.
• Opportunities for authorship and conference presentations.