Postdoctoral position MODELING VIRAL EVOLUTION School of Medicine University of California San Diego DESCRIPTION: A fully funded postdoctoral position is available starting immediately to work on the analysis of sequence evolution, statistical models and software development, specifically targeted at viral organisms, such as HIV-1 and Influenza A virus. Specific goals include (but are not limited to): (1) Development and improvement of statistical methods and algorithms that estimate properties of evolutionary processes from coding sequence alignments, especially very large data sets. (2) Design of new procedures and algorithms to infer and compare evolutionary properties (such as selective forces, co-evolutionary dependancies between sites, rates of mutation and recombination, population structure) from different genes in order to develop the concept of evolutionary BLAST. (3) Analysis of evolutionary patterns in large collections of viral sequence alignments using machine learning, data mining and other statistical techniques. (4) Developing statistical methods, methods and algorithms to analyze the output of next-generation (e.g. Roche 454, Solexa) sequencers. The position will be for one year, with the possibility of extension to up to three years, dependent on progress and funding. Salary will be according to recommended payscales, and commensurate with experience. RESEARCH GROUP: The position is based in the research group of Drs. Simon DW Frost and Sergei L Kosakovsky Pond (http://www.hyphy.org/sergei/). The successful candidate will also work closely with Dr. Art Poon (http://www.datamonkeys.org/arts_cv.pdf). There is a potential to develop and co-supervise undergraduate and graduate research projects. LOCATION: School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego. The position is based at the Antiviral Research Center (http://www.avrctrials.org), situated in the Hillcrest area (http://www.hillquest.com) near downtown San Diego. REQUIREMENTS: Applicants must: - hold a Ph.D. in one of the following disciplines: evolutionary, mathematical or computational biology, statistics, population genetics (candidates with doctorates in related fields are encouraged to apply as well); - have programming experience in a high-level programming language (C/C++ preferred) and scripting language such as Python. A successful applicant should: - display evidence of research productivity as indicated by peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations; - be acquainted with programming in a UNIX/Mac OS X environment; familiarity with distributed computing is a plus; - have a strong interest in and understanding of molecular evolution; - have strong communication and teamwork skills. APPLICATION: Please send letter of interest, C.V., and the names and contact details of three referees to: Postdoctoral Position in Evolutionary Modeling of Sequence Data, Drs. Simon Frost and Sergei Kosakovsky Pond, UCSD Antiviral Research Center, 150 W. Washington St., San Diego CA 92103, USA. Electronic application materials (PDF, Word) are preferred - please email to sdfrost at ucsd dot edu and spond at ucsd dot edu. You can also direct information requests to either e-mail address. Review of applications will begin immediately, and continue until the position is filled.