Tenure-track job, Assistant Professor in Microbiome, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

We are hiring a microbiome professor this year as part of Vanderbilt’s growing investment in the microbial sciences. If you know anyone on the market who cuts across basic and translational endeavors in the microbiome, please share this ad with them and beyond. It’s an awesome opportunity.     

Vanderbilt University is a private, internationally renowned research university located in vibrant Nashville, Tennessee. Its 10 distinct schools share a single cohesive campus that nurtures interdisciplinary activities. With a metro population of approximately 1.5 million people, Nashville has been named one of the 15 best U.S. cities for work and family and one of the 25 cities most likely to have the country's highest job growth over the coming five years. Major industries include tourism, printing and publishing, technology manufacturing, music production, higher education, finance, insurance, automobile production and health care management..

TENURE TRACK ASSISTANT PROFESSOR - MICROBIOME
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY 

Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation

Vanderbilt University’s Department of Biological Sciences and the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation invite applications for a tenure-track, faculty position in host-microbiome interactions at the Assistant Professor rank. The individual will be expected to develop her or his own independent laboratory research program and contribute to departmental strengths in evolution, chemical biology, neuroscience, and cell and molecular biology (https://as.vanderbilt.edu/biosci/). The faculty member will play an integral role within the new trans-institutional Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative and may benefit from collaborations with internationally recognized programs including the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology, or the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health. The selection criteria are excellence in research and the ability to teach undergraduate and graduate students with a high level of effectiveness. Applicants should submit a letter of interest, full curriculum vitae, statement of current and future research interests, and statement of teaching philosophy and competency directly to https://apply.interfolio.com/43974.  Applicants will arrange for four letters of recommendation to be sent to the same address. Completed applications must be received no later than October 27, 2017. Vanderbilt University has a strong institutional commitment to recruiting and retaining an academically and culturally diverse community of faculty. Minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and members of other underrepresented groups, in particular, are encouraged to apply. Vanderbilt is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action employer. Vanderbilt University is a National Arboretum located in the heart of Nashville, TN and consistently ranks in the top 15 US Best Colleges.

Two recent papers from the lab focus on functions of host-associated microbiomes and endosymbionts:

Just sharing the lab's two recent papers that examine how microbial communities and specific bacterial endosmbionts (Wolbachia) function in their hosts. 

1. Prophage WO genes recapitulate and enhance Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility. Nature.  Lepage, D.*, J.A. Metcalf*, S.R. Bordenstein, J. On, J. Perlmutter, J.D. Shropshire, E. Layton, J. Beckmann, and S.R. Bordenstein (*Co-first authors) Select coverage:

• Vanderbilt Research News 2/27/17
• Nature News and Views 2/27/17
• The Scientist 2/28/17

Major point: Two genes, cifA and cifB, in the eukaryotic association module of prophage WO (related paper from the lab) enable Wolbachia to cause cytoplasmic incompatibility

Description: The genus Wolbachia is an archetype of maternally inherited intracellular bacteria that infect the germline of numerous invertebrate species worldwide. They can selfishly alter arthropod sex ratios and reproductive strategies to increase the proportion of the infected matriline in the population. The most common reproductive manipulation is cytoplasmic incompatibility, which results in embryonic lethality in crosses between infected males and uninfected females. Females infected with the same Wolbachia strain rescue this lethality. Despite more than 40 years of research and relevance to symbiont-induced speciation, as well as control of arbovirus vectors and agricultural pests, the bacterial genes underlying cytoplasmic incompatibility remain unknown. Here we use comparative and transgenic approaches to demonstrate that two differentially transcribed, co-diverging genes in the eukaryotic association module of prophage WO from Wolbachia strain wMel recapitulate and enhance cytoplasmic incompatibility. Dual expression in transgenic, uninfected males of Drosophila melanogaster crossed to uninfected females causes embryonic lethality. Each gene additively augments embryonic lethality in crosses between infected males and uninfected females. Lethality associates with embryonic defects that parallel those of wild-type cytoplasmic incompatibility and is notably rescued by wMel-infected embryos in all cases. The discovery of cytoplasmic incompatibility factor genes cifA and cifB pioneers genetic studies of prophage WO-induced reproductive manipulations and informs the continuing use of Wolbachia to control dengue and Zika virus transmission to humans.

 

 

2. Phylosymbiosis: Relationships and functional effects of microbial communities across host evolutionary history PLOS Biology (open access) By Brooks AW*, Kohl KD*, Brucker RM*, van Opstal EJ, Bordenstein SR (Co-first authors) Select coverage:

• PLOS Biology Open Highlight: Evolving as a Holobiont
• The Scientist

Major point: Host-associated microbial communities can be specific and beneficial to their hosts, even among closely-related host species.

Description: Studies on the assembly and function of host-microbiota symbioses are inherently complicated by the diverse effects of diet, age, sex, host genetics, and endosymbionts. Central to unraveling one effect from the other is an experimental framework that reduces confounders. Using common rearing conditions across four animal groups (deer mice, flies, mosquitoes, and wasps) that span recent host speciation events to more distantly related host genera, this study tests whether microbial community assembly is generally random with respect to host relatedness or "phylosymbiotic," in which the phylogeny of the host group is congruent with ecological relationships of their microbial communities. Across all four animal groups and one external dataset of great apes, we demonstrate phylosymbiosis to varying degrees in each group. Moreover, consistent with selection on host–microbiota or holobiont interactions driving phylosymbiosis, transplanting interspecific microbial communities in mice significantly decreased their ability to digest food. Similarly, wasps that received transplants of microbial communities from different wasp species had lower survival than those given their own microbiota. Overall, this experimental and statistical framework shows how microbial community assembly and functionality across related species can be linked to animal evolution, health, and survival.

The Most Important Blog Post - Scientist March on Washington

Everybody has a reason to march. This is the most important post of this blog. Tune in.

Source: http://www.scientistsmarchonwashington.com/

What is the Scientists' March on Washington

UPDATE: 4:00 1-24-16 : Since 10am today, over 50 people have volunteered to help make this event a reality! We're going to get back to everyone and try to make sure that everyone's time is put to the best use possible. A single google hangout looks unfeasible if volunteers keep coming in at this rate until Saturday, so we're working ways to break into working groups. Stay tuned!

Twitter: @ScienceMarchDC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1862739727343189/
Reddit: /r/scientistsmarch
Get Email Updates
To help: https://goo.gl/forms/zAdY02dBEz3Ykii42
Contact: scientistsmarchonwashington@gmail.com

We accept the following as provisionally true:

• The Earth is becoming warmer due to human action.
• The diversity of life arose by evolution.
• An American government that ignores science to pursue ideological agendas threatens not only the environment of which humans are a part, but America itself.
• Scientific research in the United States is underfunded.
• Politicians who devalue expertise risk making decisions that do not reflect reality.

Who can participate:

Science is a methodology and a way of thinking. Anyone who uses and values these tools for understanding the world, not just professional scientists, may participate.

How can I help?

We are still in the very early stages of organizing this event. We need all the help we can get, especially from people with expertise in the following areas:

• Web Design
• Logo/Graphic design
• Law, incorporation of a not-for-profit
• Fundraising
• Public relations and media relations
• Social media management
• Organizing large events
• Acquiring permits in DC
• Contacts with possible speakers

You don’t need to be a professional scientist to participate. Just fill out this google form: https://goo.gl/forms/zAdY02dBEz3Ykii42 and please let us know how you can help.

How can I donate?

You can’t yet. We’re working on figuring out a legal framework that will allow you to donate.

When will it be?

We’re still in the very earliest stages. The date will be announced as soon as it is available.

Isn’t science apolitical?

Yes. Scientists, however are not. The march is non-partisan, however it is intended to have 
an impact on policy makers