Acknowledgement of Country

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation

The Opportunity

• Do you have a PhD bioinformatics, viral genetics, or similar?
• Contribute to developing models of viral evolution
• Join CSIRO – Australia’s leading scientific research organisation!

CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide opportunities to scientists and engineers who have completed their doctorate and have less than three years of relevant postdoctoral work experience. These fellowships aim to develop the next generation of future leaders of the innovation system.

The CERC Fellow will play a critical role in an overarching project which involves a multi-disciplinary, multi-CERC Fellow team to develop and validate a novel solution to address viral outbreaks in livestock and aquaculture species. See the other CERC Fellowship positions that will join the project here: Viral Molecular Immunology and Genome Engineering.

The successful candidate will develop models of viral evolution and use this to inform the design of CRISPR/Cas13 based antivirals for applications in livestock and aquaculture industries. Specifically, they will use machine learning to approaches to understand how viruses evolve in response to selection pressure to better understanding escape pathways and use this to design CRISPR/Cas13 anti-viral that are robust to escape mutations.

Your duties will include:

• Developing models of viral evolution to enable the identification of potential escape pathways in response to selection pressure.
• Contributing to the design and evaluation of CRISPR/Cas13 antivirals.
• Working in a diverse and multi-disciplinary team with a high-level collegiate and respectful approach to help deliver combined and independent outcomes.
• Carrying out innovative, impactful research of strategic importance to CSIRO that will, where possible, lead to novel and important scientific outcomes.
• Recognising and utilising opportunities for innovation and the generation of new theoretical perspectives, and progress opportunities for the further development or creation of new lines of research.

Location: Negotiable, AU

Salary: AU$92k - AU$101k plus up to 15.4% superannuation

Tenure: Specified term of 3 years

Reference: 90883

To be considered you will need:

• A doctorate (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD) in a relevant discipline area, such as bioinformatics, viral genetics or similar. Please note: To be eligible for this role you must have no more than 3 years (full-time equivalent) of postdoctoral research experience.
• Experience in multi-omics analysis (transcriptomics, genomics, proteomics).
• Evidence of advanced data analytics and programming capabilities in more than one language relevant for bioinformatics (e.g. Python, Java, C++, Scala, BASH, R, Julia). 

For full details about this role please view the Position Description

Eligibility

Applications for this position are open to Australian/New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents or Australian temporary residents currently residing in Australia who are able to commence in the role by 30 June 2023.

Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Flexible Working Arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. 

Diversity and Inclusion

We are working hard to recruit people representing the diversity across our society, and ensure that all our people feel supported to do their best work and feel empowered to let their ideas flourish. 

About CSIRO

At CSIRO Australia's national science agency, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. We put the safety and wellbeing of our people above all else and earn trust everywhere because we only deal in facts. We collaborate widely and generously and deliver solutions with real impact. 

Join us and start creating tomorrow today!

How to Apply

Please apply on-line and provide a cover letter and CV that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role.

Applications Close

31 January 2023, 11:00pm AEDT