Jobs in Biological Sciences

Discipline Position Country Info
Mathematical Epidemiology and Disease & Invasion Ecology Research Chair South Africa LINK
Epidemiological Modelling & Analysis Director South Africa LINK
Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics MSc/PhD/Postdoctoral South Africa LINK   
Biocatalysis and technical biology MSc/PhD/Postdoctoral South Africa LINK    PDF
Microbiology/ Mycorrhizal fungi MSc/PhD South Africa LINK
Phage display PhD/Postdoctoral South Africa LINK
Marine ecology Msc South Africa LINK

 

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Stellenbosch University

South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling & Analysis (SACEMA)

Director
(Five-year Contract Appointment)
(Ref. AR/412/12/09)

SACEMA is hosted by Stellenbosch University and administered by the National Research Foundation (NRF). The Centre was launched in 2006, with an initial investment for five years from the South African Government Department of Science & Technology (DST). During its first five years of operation SACEMA has more than doubled this income with external funding, principally from the Canadian International Development Agency which, in 2009, provided secure funding for the next five years.

SACEMA needs to appoint a new Director in 2010. This is a senior, full-time, academic position with an internationally competitive remuneration package, commensurate with experience and qualifications. The appointment will be for an initial period of five years. Subject to continued funding for the SACEMA project, the incumbent will become a permanent staff member of Stellenbosch University, and be eligible for pension and other benefits that apply to academic positions of the University.

We wish to appoint as Director a person of high academic standing and an international reputation in mathematical epidemiology. S/he will report to the SACEMA Management Board and Board of Trustees.

Responsibilities: Assuming overall management of SACEMA as a DST/NRF Centre of Excellence • overseeing the budgets and staffing of SACEMA research and training projects • planning and chairing scientific meetings, as well as hosting scientific visits • continuously developing SACEMA sites as appropriate at Southern African universities • developing links and collaborating with cognate research initiatives • locating SACEMA activities within national research priorities and the strategic objectives of Stellenbosch University • actively identifying fruitful areas of research • providing advice and direction to the various research teams, as well as evaluating research outcomes • actively participating in and leading one or more of the principal research teams in the Centre.
Requirements: A distinguished research record and international recognition in mathematical modelling of human biology, quantitative epidemiology and/or medical statistics • senior level experience in academic management • familiarity with the major health problems facing Southern Africa and substantial contribution to the international literature in this field • experience in teaching Mathematics and supervising students in Mathematical Epidemiology.
Commencement of duties: June 2010
Closing date: 29 January 2010
Enquiries: Prof. John Hargrove on 021 808 2589 or at jhargrove@sun.ac.za  

The University will consider all applications in terms of its Employment Equity Plan, which acknowledges the need to diversify the demographic composition of the staff corps, especially with regard to the appointment of suitable candidates from the designated groups.

The University reserves the right not to make an appointment.

Your application, comprising a comprehensive curriculum vitae (including the names and contact details of at least two referees), must reach the University before or on the closing date of the advertised post.

Apply online at http://www.sun.ac.za/vacancies

Candidates may be subjected to appropriate psychometric testing and other selection instruments.

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Stellenbosch University

South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling & Analysis (SACEMA)

South African Research Chair in
Mathematical Epidemiology and Disease & Invasion Ecology
(Ref. AR/413/12/09)

SACEMA, with the support of the South African Department of Science & Technology (DST) and the National Research Foundation (NRF), is recruiting a senior scientist of international standing in the area of dynamical systems modelling in epidemiology and disease ecology. It is envisaged that the incumbent will develop close, long-term ties with the other two relevant Centres of Excellence in the region, viz. the Centre for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research and the Centre for Invasion Biology, to further integrate dynamical systems theory into their scope of work.

The successful candidate must comply with the criteria below.

  • Extensive experience in training postgraduate as well as postdoctoral students in the area of dynamical systems theory applicable to epidemiology and disease & invasion ecology, complemented by the ability to offer courses to students in advanced areas of population and epidemiological modelling, parameter estimation and model fitting.
  • A distinguished peer-reviewed record of research publications in mathematical systems theory and its application to problems in one or more of the following areas: HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, zoonotic processes and invading diseases/species.
  • Experience in running large collaborative research projects involving international collaborations, and providing research opportunities for undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral students.
  • Demonstrated ability to obtain competitive funding from national and international governmental funding agencies or private foundations.

For the duration of the appointment the selected candidate will occupy an extraordinary professorship in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Stellenbosch University, where s/he will strengthen the activities of the Bio-Mathematics Focus of the Department as well as the interaction with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in this area.

The appointee will set in motion a scheme for providing superior training for a cohort of African, specifically South African, scientists to the PhD level in mathematical population modelling, and analysis of epidemiology and disease & invasion ecology.

The spirit of this scheme is that it should provide future leadership in quantitative epidemiology and ecology in South Africa as well as the region. The incumbent will be based in Stellenbosch although it is recognised that, where appropriate and where funds allow, s/he will also organise training for the students at overseas institutions.

The scheme will be funded as a part of the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI), spear-headed by the South African National Research Foundation. Information on the SARChI initiative is available on the website (http://www.nrf.ac.za/sarchi). The Chair is tenable for a period of up to 15 years and comes with a maximum annual budget of R2,5 million (about US$330 000 at current exchange rates).

Closing date for applications: 29 January 2010

For further specific information, contact Prof. John Hargrove, Director: SACEMA, on 021 808 2589 or at jhargrove@sun.ac.za

The University will consider all applications in terms of its Employment Equity Plan, which acknowledges the need to diversify the demographic composition of the staff corps, especially with regard to the appointment of suitable candidates from the designated groups.

The University reserves the right not to make an appointment.

Your application, comprising a comprehensive curriculum vitae (including the names and contact details of at least two referees), must reach the University before or on the closing date of the advertised post.

Apply online at http://www.sun.ac.za/vacancies

It is important that applicants request their referees to forward confidential reports by the closing date to vacancies_academic@sun.ac.za

Candidates may be subjected to appropriate psychometric testing and other selection instruments.

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University of the Western Cape

The Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics [IMBM]

Post-Graduate Research Projects 
Department of Biotechnology
University of the Western Cape
Cape Town, South Africa

The following research projects are available in 2010. Enquiries should be forwarded to Professor Don Cowan, Director, IMBM (imbm.uwc@gmail.com). Please note that PhD and Masters bursaries can only be awarded to South African citizens.

PhD and MSc Projects

i. Technologies for production of biofuels: The enzymology of lignocellulose degradation
IMBM has a well established research platform in the field of biofuels research, funded by the NRF, PlantBio and several industrial partners. Several projects involving the discovery, expression and characterization of lignocellulosic degrading enzymes, identified using metagenomic and high throughput screening methods, are available.

ii. Technologies for production of biofuels: Understanding the physiological responses of ethanologenic microorganisms to solvent and inhibitors.
This project involves the use of proteomics methods to investigate the effect of solvents and growth inhibitors on fermentation performance and gene expression.

iii. Molecular ecology of Ethiopian and Kenyan haloalkaline lake systems.
In collaboration with researchers from the Universities of Bergen (Norway), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and the Jomo Kenyatta Technical University (Kenya), we are studying the diversity of culturable and unculturable bacteria in the high salt, high pH Rift Valley lakes of eastern Arfica.

iv. Characterization of actinomycetes in Western Cape Fynbos
Cape fynbos biome is internationally acknowledged as one of the biodiversity ‘hotspots’ of the world. This research programme focuses on the diversity of the terrestrial actinomycetes in this unique and specialised environment. The diversity of these organisms will be determined by using conventional isolation methods together with modern molecular technologies.

v. Characterization of psychrotrophic microbial communities in Antarctic desert soils
Antarctic desert soils are rich sources of novel cold active microorganisms. Researchers will join a team, in collaboration with other scientists from universities in New Zealand and Hong Kong, to investigate the phylogenetic and culturable diversity of groups of industrially important microorganisms (including actinomycetes and cyanobacteria). Other aspects of this program include studies of gene expression and of key nutrient cycling processes in specialized Antarctic habitats.

vi. Metagenomic mining and characterization of novel extremophilic enzymes
The researcher will join a team working on metagenomic methods for identifying new enzymes. The project involves the preparation and screening of fosmid libraries, sub-cloning and expression of selected genes, and detailed structure-function studies on candidate proteins.

vii. Plant-associated bacteria as tools for crop improvement
The project will involve a phylogenetic survey of rhizospheric microbial populations of major crop species, the attempted culturing of target species, and the development of isolates for constitutive expression of plant-growth promoters.

viii. Assembly and annotation of novel Antarctic microbial genomes
We have recently obtained Illumina sequence data from the genomes a several novel Antarctic microbial isolates, including a halo-alkalo-psychrophilic Nesterenkonia isolate. The project, in collaboration with Prof Alan Christoffels of the SA National Bioinformatics Institute, will involve a team of researchers undertaking the completion, assembly and annotation of the genomes.

ix. Structure-function studies with nitrile hydratases and amidases.
These project are for students interested in enzymology, biocatalysis, site specific mutations and structural analysis. In collaboration with Prof Trevor Sewell, we aim to use mutagenesis to modify the active sites of several enzymes implicated in the degradation of nitriles. One of our objectives is to introduce enantioselectivity into nitrile hydratases using enzyme evolution methods.

x. Endemic endophytic microorganisms: Diversity and Gene Mining
Endophytes (non-pathogenic microorganisms adapted to life inside plant tissues) are a poorly understood group. In collaboration with several other research teams, we aim to expand our understanding of the endophyte diversity of Cape endemic plant species, and to use metagenomic methods to access potentially valuable genes and enzymes from this important genetic resource.

xi. Biology of extremophilic phage
This project is designed to investigate the more basic and fundamental aspects of phage diversity in extreme environments, particularly in halo-alkaline samples. This will involve the isolation and functional and genetic characterization of the phages.

Professor DA Cowan, Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville 7535, South Africa www.imbm.co.za

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Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Biocatalysis and Technical Biology

MSc/PhD/Postdoctoral

Several positions available in the Biocatalysis and Technical Biology research group at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa.

More information

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Rhodes University

Department of Zoology and Entomology


Food web ecology of coastal marine invertebrate communities

Msc position

Research and bursary funding is available immediately for a highly motivated Masters student in the field of marine ecology, to be based in the Richoux laboratory in the Zoology and Entomology Department at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. Applicants must possess B.Sc. and Honours degrees in a related biological field (eg. zoology, botany, biochemistry, etc.) and have a keen interest in both field and laboratory-based research. The successful applicant will acquire skills in an exciting and widely applicable interdisciplinary field involving trophic marker analysis (eg. fatty acid composition and stable isotope ratios) to study energy transfer within and among aquatic ecosystems.

All interested candidates, please email your CV and a letter of motivation as soon as possible to:

Dr. Nicole Richoux
N.Richoux@ru.ac.za 
Room 209
Department of Zoology and Entomology
Rhodes University
Grahamstown
South Africa, 6140

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Rhodes University

Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology & Biotechnology


Mycorrhizal Research Group

Please see attached pdf.

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University of the Western Cape

PhD/Postdoc in Phage Display

A PhD/Postdoc position is available in the Protein-protein Interaction group at the University of the Western Cape to implement a Phage Display screen1 for the identification of novel protein-protein interactions. The group currently comprises 4 PhD and 2 MSc students, focussing primarily on interactions involving the RBBP6 p53-associated protein2; 3. The project will complement a number of similar techniques currently in use within the group, including yeast two-hybrid, immunoprecipitation, BIACore and NMR-based studies. The group has excellent facilities for molecular biology and bacterial protein expression, BIACore and fluorescence microscopy, as well as access to a 600 MHz NMR spectrometer configured for biomolecular work at a nearby institution.

The University of the Western Cape is situated 20 minutes’ drive from central Cape Town. Cape Town and the surrounding areas offer excellent quality of life, including mountains, beaches, winelands and fine restaurants. Childcare and excellent schools are readily available.

Applicants should have a strong background in molecular biology. Previous experience of phage display or the construction of cDNA libraries would be an advantage, but are not essential.

For more information contact Dr David Pugh, email: dpugh@uwc.ac.za. To apply, send a covering letter, a CV containing details of previous courses and associated grades and the email addresses of 3 referees to the above address.

More information:

1. Lanzillotti, R. & Coetzer, T. L. (2008). Phage display: a useful tool for malaria research? Trends Parasitol 24, 18-23. Pubmed
2. Pugh, D. J., AB, E., Faro, A., Lutya, P. T., Hoffmann, E. & Rees, D. J. (2006). DWNN, a novel ubiquitin-like domain, implicates RBBP6 in mRNA processing and ubiquitin-like pathways. BMC Struct Biol 6, 1. Pubmed
3. Chibi, M., Meyer, M., Skepu, A., Rees, D. J., Moolman-Smook, J. C. & Pugh, D. J. (2008). RBBP6 Interacts with Multifunctional Protein YB-1 through Its RING Finger Domain, Leading to Ubiquitination and Proteosomal Degradation of YB-1. J Mol Biol. Pubmed

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