Lab Technician/Manager Position in Infectious Disease Epidemiology

The lab of professor Moradigaravand at KAUST has an opening for a lab manager/technician, as part of the KAUST Smart Health Initiative, to oversee the microbiology, sample handling and sequencing. The lab is focused on the genomic epidemiology of bacterial infectious diseases and predicting key clinical features of bacterial infections from genomic biomarkers.

The Infectious Disease Epidemiology (IDE) Laboratory offers an excellent interdisciplinary environment where experimentalists work closely with computational experts utilizing state-of-the-art genomic technologies. We ask fundamental questions on how pathogenic strains spread across and within clinical and environmental settings. Our aim to analyze the population diversity and structure of pathogens at a fine resolution.  Phylogenetic and phylodynamic approaches are, therefore, employed to understand the evolution of pathogenic strains on epidemiological time scales.

We also aim to understand how bacterial phenotypes are determined by their genotypes in natural settings. We therefore utilize a broad range of high-throughput genomic and phenomic technologies to obtain whole genome sequencing of clinical and environmental bacterial strains and their key clinical phenotypes under various conditions. We then employ computational methods, in particular machine learning methods, to integrate the phenome and genome data with the goal of reconstructing the genotype-phenotype map and identifying robust causative and informative genomic biomarkers.

We are embedded in BESE division (bese.kaust.edu.sa), which extends and supports a multi-disciplinary work environment. Furthermore, through the core laboratories (corelabs.kaust.edu.sa) we have access to the most recent equipment such as imaging, sequencing, and single-cell genomics. The IDE lab is also part of the Smart Health Initiative (www.smarthealth.kaust.edu.sa ), which aims at the development and usage of smart-health technologies and knowledge to promote innovation that transforms healthcare delivery system of Saudi Arabia and the world from traditional medicine to precision medicine. Central to this initiative, is the collaboration between KAUST scientists with clinicians in the best in-Kingdom medical centers.

The post-holder will contribute to the development and daily management of the lab and the above-mentioned aims by fulfilling the following duties:

• Oversees the daily operational activities of the IDE lab, including clinical sample handling, sequencing and biobanking.
• Assists PhD and graduate students in laboratory components of their theses.
• Coordinates with labs and core lab at the BESE and wider KAUST for facilitating the sequencing process.
• Coordinate with external collaborators and stakeholders as part the KAUST Smart Initiative.
• Conduct departmental meetings and ensures appropriate lab communication.
• Maintain a clean and safe work environment.

You are highly motivated, energetic, determined, well organized, self-motivated, and independent. You have a well-developed ability and the appropriate temperament to work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team. Here you are open-mined and critical at the same time while ready to speak up. You like to solve scientific problems, and have a strong work ethic, integrity, and professionalism.

Other information
The post comes with a generous support package and competitive salary. Preferred starting date is in early 2023. Please indicate approximate starting date.

For further details about the position, please contact Prof. Danesh Moradigaravand ([email protected] )

You are welcome to submit your application no later than 31 Oct 2022

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST ) is being established in Saudi Arabia, on the Red Sea coastal area of Thuwal, as an international graduate-level research university dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement that will benefit the region and the world. As an independent and merit-based institution and one of the best-endowed universities in the world, KAUST intends to become a major new contributor to the global network of collaborative research. It will enable researchers from around the globe to work together to solve challenging scientific and technological problems. The admission of students, the appointment, promotion and retention of faculty and staff and all the educational, administrative and other activities of the University shall be conducted on the basis of equality, without regard to race, color, religion or gender.Further information can be found at www.kaust.edu.sa .