#molecular biology jobs sydney

[letsjanukhan]

Inside a lab processing thousands of coronavirus test results

Inside a lab processing thousands of coronavirus test results

When there are more than 100,000 people in NSW getting tested for coronavirus each day, processing these results is a huge job. At Douglass Hanly Moir’s main lab at Macquarie Park, in Sydney’s north-west, it’s all hands on deck to turn around results within 24 hours. “This is very complicated work, it’s not simple,” Director of Molecular Biology at DHM Dr Michael Wehrhahn told 9News. When…

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[evoldir]

Fwd: Graduate position: NCopernicusU_Poland.Phylogenomics

Begin forwarded message: > From: [email protected] > Subject: Graduate position: NCopernicusU_Poland.Phylogenomics > Date: 25 November 2020 at 06:14:04 GMT > To: [email protected] > > > > The Department of Ecology and Biogeography at Nicolaus Copernicus   > University in Torun, Poland is recruiting highly motivated individual   > for a 3-year PhD position in phylogenomics. Our lab is broadly   > interested in phylogenetic and evolution of ecological strategies in   > Diptera. > > Job Description: The main objective of this PhD project is to   > reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships within highly diversified   > group of higher flies, Oestroidea, at various taxonomic levels using   > state-of-the-art phylogenomic methods. Using an approach involving   > hybridization capture (AHE and UCE), genome skimming and RAD-seq   > methods we aim to generate phylogenomic data for hundreds of species   > from the group to build the robust, dated phylogenetic hypothesis.   > This hypothesis will be used for answering questions concerning the   > evolution of larval feeding strategies in higher Diptera. This project   > is funded by a grant from the Polish National Science Centre, in   > partnership with Prof. Brian Wiegmann (NC State University) and Prof.   > James Wallman (University of Technology Sydney, Australia). The   > position requires admission to Nicolaus Copernicus University's   > Doctoral School Academia Copernicana. > > Requirements: We search for a candidate who has completed a MSc degree   > (or other education equivalent) of high quality in molecular biology,   > evolutionary biology, phylogenetics, bioinformatics, traditional   > taxonomy or a field relevant to the project description. The candidate   > should be able to document experience in standard laboratory   > techniques. Experience with analytical or theoretical evolutionary   > biology/population genetics or bioinformatics will be considered   > positively. We seek a highly motivated, enthusiastic person with the   > ambition to gain insight and publish papers in leading, international   > journals, in possession of good interpersonal skills and willing to   > collaborate with other researchers. > > Salary: 4 500 PLN per month (app. 1 000 Euro) > > Interested individuals should email a CV/resume to Prof. Krzysztof   > Szpila ([email protected]), as well as a short description of how your   > interests and the research topics of our research group complement   > each other (no more than one page) before 15 January 2021. The best   > candidates will be asked to provide copies of educational certificates   > and 2-3 names of references. The starting date is flexible and will   > strongly depend on COVID situation in EU countries. > > > > > > > > "[email protected]" > via IFTTT

[biggiemoods]

TAG YOURSELF THING (hell yeah!!)

I was tagged by @notarapture!!

Name/nickname: Sydney/Syd

Gender: Female

Star sign: Aries

Height: 5'1" (and ¾)

Sexuality: Queer/Sapphic/Bisexual

Hogwarts house: Hufflepuff

Average hours of sleep: 7+

Favorite animal: Cats!

Current time: 1:53 AM PST

Number of blankets I sleep with: usually just a sheet and a comforter. blankets piled on top depending on how cold it is.

Dog or cat person? I love both, but would prefer to own cat

Dream trip: Japan or a trip across Europe

When I made this blog: a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away (idk like high school sometime and im now in college)

Number of followers: 441

Meaning of URL: clown + pussy. official just makes it funnier. tbh my friend and i just thought it was funny.

Why I made this blog: memes probably

Dream job: tenured professor researching in molecular biology

Tag ten followers you want to get to know better: @gandalf-da-gay-wizard @tastethelesbianpride

[thewebofslime]

George Church, the prominent Harvard University biologist, offered a full-throated apology for having meetings and phone calls with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein even after the financier pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution. “I certainly apologize for my poor awareness and judgment,” Church told STAT in his first public comments about Epstein. Expressing regret that he and other scientists weren’t more cautious in their dealings with Epstein, he said: “There should have been more conversations about, should we be doing this, should we be helping this guy? There was just a lot of nerd tunnel vision.” He added, “My main concern is for the people who have been hurt,” the girls and young women Epstein was accused last month of having brought to his Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla., homes for sex (a charge Epstein denies). NEWSLETTERS Sign up for Daily Recap A roundup of STAT's top stories of the day. Privacy Policy Since the indictment last month, news reports have described numerous meetings Epstein organized, both before and after his 2008 conviction, with physicists, biologists, mathematicians, and other researchers. He seemed to believe his interactions with scientists, especially those at Harvard, would buff his reputation in the financial world, saying on his website that he had “the privilege of sponsoring many prominent scientists.” Asked how so many of them could have associated with Epstein after his guilty plea and 13-month sentence, Church said that scientists “might not have realized the enormity of his transgressions,” especially since Epstein seemed to be welcomed back into society after he served his sentence. “That’s my most generous interpretation.” In addition, he said, scientists are as vulnerable to flattery and attention from prominent people as anyone. “If it’s a rich person [asking about their research], that’s cool,” Church said. “Or if it’s a politician or a movie star, [scientists] would be flattered if they took time out of their own activities to learn something about quasars or recombinant DNA.” As for whether Epstein’s 2008 conviction gave Church (a father and grandfather) pause, he said, “I did read a couple of news articles” a decade ago, he said, “but they weren’t clear enough for me to know there was a serious problem.” (The full extent of Epstein’s crimes came out in an investigation by the Miami Herald in 2018; in the New York Times, a 2006 story describing Epstein’s not-guilty plea ran on A19, and one in 2008 characterized the allegations as “involving massages with teenage girls”). “But that is still no excuse for me not being abreast of the news.” Church said he is used to financiers, technologists, and celebrities seeking him out, and has become a quasi-celebrity himself. In his distinctive Darwinesque beard, he has had star turns on “The Colbert Report,” was named to the Time 100 in 2017, made his genome sequence public, and has been featured on “NOVA” and other television science programs. But Church also has unquestioned scientific gravitas, having helped develop genome sequencing as well as CRISPR genome editing, and founded or advised dozens of biotech companies. Now, Church is the only science luminary to publicly apologize for interactions with Epstein. Related: A Q&A with NIA’s director on Alzheimer’s: What’s gone wrong, and what’s going right? Many influential scientists met Epstein through New York literary agent John Brockman, who, starting in 1999, hosted an annual “billionaires dinner” where some of his authors mingled with moguls. Epstein attended several of the dinners from 2000 to 2011, and Brockman described him on his online salon Edge.org as a “science philanthropist.” Church, whose 2012 book “Regenesis” Brockman shepherded, said he met Epstein in 2006, either through Brockman or through the then-chairman of the Harvard psychology department, Stephen Kosslyn, a member of Edge.org. He confirmed NBC’s recent report that he had six phone calls and meetings with Epstein in 2014, as shown in Church’s online calendar (he has posted one every year since 1999). Sample entry: “Jun 21, 2014 Lunch w/ Jeffrey Epstein, 12-1:30, Martin Nowak’s Institute.” (Nowak, a Harvard biologist/mathematician, is also a Brockman client and Edge participant.) He also met with Epstein “several times” each year since, Church said. (Brockman and Nowak could not be reached for comment over the weekend.) Asked what interested Epstein about Church’s work, Church paused before saying, “I don’t think he picked me. So in that sense he may not have been that interested.” Instead, many of his meetings with Epstein were with Nowak, to whose then-fledgling Program for Evolutionary Dynamics Epstein contributed $6.5 million in 2003, five years before his guilty plea. Church and Nowak have worked together on, among other things, the evolution of CRISPR-based gene drives. At the get-togethers with Nowak, Church said, Epstein seemed interested in the science of life’s origins and mathematically modeling the evolution of viruses, cancer cells, and life itself. Epstein did not leave much of an impression on him, Church said: “The meetings weren’t really about Jeffrey, they were about the scientists who were talking with each other. Normally, expectations are low for people who listen in on meetings far outside their field of expertise.” Church knew nothing about Epstein’s desire in the early 2000s to establish a eugenics program, he said. According to the New York Times, Epstein hoped that multiple women would be inseminated with his sperm. Church has done boundary-pushing research on “recoding life” (to, among other things, make cells resistant to viruses) and argued that making heritable changes in the genomes of embryos should not be off the table, which might have made him a sounding board for eugenic fantasies. But “I never heard anything about it,” Church said. “I’d have thought that I would have been involved in that kind of conversation, but it didn’t tend to go in that direction. But also, I think people tend to behave themselves around me.” A longtime associate of Church’s seemed surprised that he became involved with Epstein, since Church has prioritized ethics. (The associate declined to be named in a story about Epstein.) Church invited a philosopher to work in his lab to flag bioethics issues in experiments, and for years has taught a research ethics course, which is unusual for someone of his prominence. Universities are supposed to vet potential donors who ask to meet with a faculty member, especially if they want to fund research. Epstein made a donation to Church’s lab for “cutting edge science and education” from 2005 to 2007. “My understanding is this [vetting] is the responsibility of the development office, which is yet another reason why scientists are a little bit more relaxed,” Church said. “They feel they have administrators, who in theory do the difficult job of figuring out who’s legit.” Epstein’s donation went into what Church called “a general account used to get new projects going before we have enough preliminary data to warrant a formal grant application.” Scientists, “myself included, are not very good” at screening out people, he said. “I think many of them also feel an exceptionalism,” meaning that they should be allowed to associate with anyone if it is for a greater good. He recalled how in the 1990s renowned molecular biologist and Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner, who died in April at age 92, defended the $15 million he accepted from cigarette giant Philip Morris for a biology institute in California that he’d founded, arguing that basic science was a better cause than other uses the company might have for its millions. Did he believe Epstein had “paid his debt to society” in 2008 and deserved another chance? “As far as I know people just didn’t have that conversation,” Church said. “But it should have.’’ Scientists’ feeling that they cannot be morally tainted by their associations, however, “may not be rational, or helpful, or correct,” Church allowed. Still, he added, “I would like to think that people’s reputation is multidimensional and multiyear — that it takes a long time to build up but also to tear down.” He was speaking both generally and about himself.

#TheWebOfSlime

[evoldir]

Fwd: Job: USydney.ResAssist.MolecularEvolution

Begin forwarded message: > From: [email protected] > Subject: Job: USydney.ResAssist.MolecularEvolution > Date: 19 July 2019 at 15:52:12 GMT+10 > To: [email protected] > > > Research Assistant in Molecular Evolution > > School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, > Australia > > - Fixed Term: Full-time 12 months, or Part-time (0.5 FTE) 2 years. > - Base Salary: $74,898 p.a. กV $83,861 p.a. pro-rata Level 5, plus a >  generous employerกฆs contribution to superannuation. > - Please note that an employer visa sponsorship is not available for >  this position. Australian citizens, permanent residents, and >  candidates holding their own visa are eligible to apply. > > ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY > The Research Assistant will provide technical and research support for > the Australian Research Council funded project กงCharacterising rates > of molecular evolution across the Tree of Lifeกจ. Under the supervision > of the Chief Investigator Professor Simon Ho, the responsibilities of > the Research Assistant will include developing an online database with > a public web interface, populating the database with curated scientific > data, constructing and maintaining relevant web sites, and providing > technical and computational assistance to academics and research students > collaborating on the project. There will be opportunities for preparing > research for publication and for communicating the results of the work > at conferences and other scientific outlets. > > ABOUT YOU > We are looking for a Research Assistant who possesses: > - Tertiary qualifications in appropriate discipline (such as >  bioinformatics, computational biology, or computer science). May have >  (or be working towards) postgraduate qualifications. > - Skills required for constructing an online database and public web >  interface (e.g., SQL, JavaScript, and HTML) > - Programming skills for scientific data analysis (e.g., Python, R) > - Significant experience in genetic data collection, curation, and analysis > - Significant experience in carrying out scientific literature searches, >  and preparing literature reviews for further analysis > - Extensive experience in developing and working on research projects, >  including expertise in using research protocols, experimental design, >  ethics submissions and grant applications > - Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills >  with sound negotiating and conflict resolution skills and a >  demonstrated level of tact and discretion in dealing with day-to-day >  operational matters > - Demonstrated ability to work both independently and as part of a team, >  taking initiative and exercising sound judgement in resolving matters >  that may arise as part of normal daily work > - Good understanding of relevant aspects of the Work Health and Safety >  Policy and relevant legislation, including Safe Laboratory Practices, >  as applicable to the work environment > > For further details and a link to the application form, please see: > https://bit.ly/sydmolevol > > Job Reference No. 763/0419F > > Closing date: 11:30pm, 28 July 2019 (Sydney Time) > > > > SIMON HO > Professor of Molecular Evolution > School of Life and Environmental Sciences > The University of Sydney > > E [email protected] > T [phone] > W https://ift.tt/2XZMDSv > > Simon Ho > via IFTTT