Sr. Research Specialist II AS6497

Campus

OSU-Stillwater

Contact Name & Email

Carey Jo Warner

Work Schedule

Monday through Friday 8:00am-5:00pm with occasional evenings and weekends.

Appointment Length

Regular Continuous/Until Further Notice

Hiring Range

$49500 - $71000

Salary

Special Instructions to Applicants

For full consideration please include a resume cover letter and contact information for three professional references.

About this Position

The selected candidate will be an integral member of our research team primarily responsible for the execution maintenance and improvement of computational pipelines used for help in completing the mission of a funded NIH R01 grant (R01GM148886; Biophysical Model of Enzyme Catalysis: Conformational Sub-states Solvent Coupling and Energy Networks). The candidate will use a combination of molecular dynamics (MD) modeling and genome-scale large language models to help in identifying and quantifying enzyme conformational sub-states; mapping energy-flow networks and allosteric communication paths within enzymes; characterizing solventenzyme thermodynamic coupling and its impact on enzyme kinetics and catalysis.

The candidate will run and maintain computational pipelines for high-throughput comparison of genomes as well as keeping up-to-date local copies of databases (e.g. GenBank). Bioinformatics experience is necessary as well as knowledge of basic molecular biology. This position is for an enthusiastic person with a passion for applying computational methods to biological problems. The selected candidate will run and maintain computational pipelines for high-throughput comparison of microbial proteomes as well as keeping up-to-date local copies of databases (e.g. GenBank).

Specifics:

Maintain and routinely update comprehensive microbial proteome datasets derived from bacterial genomes using GenBank and related public repositories. This includes generating and curating derived proteomes integrating UniProt identifiers and annotating sequences with profile Hidden Markov Model (HMM) domain assignments. Ensure data quality reproducibility and accessibility for downstream computational pipelines supporting enzyme modeling and comparative genomics research.

Develop implement and optimize proteinfocused large language models (LLMs) with an emphasis on enzymatic protein families. Use these models to investigate how aminoacid sequence variation influences enzyme conformational dynamics catalytic efficiency and structurefunction relationships. Contribute to model benchmarking algorithmic improvement and integration of LLM outputs into established molecular dynamics (MD) and bioinformatics pipelines.

Conduct methodological research to stay current with emerging scientific advancements in bioinformatics genomics proteomics molecular dynamics and highthroughput computational analysis. Evaluate and implement new tools algorithms and frameworks to improve existing pipelines. Provide training documentation and technical support to research team members staff and collaborators on the use of bioinformatic workflows databases and computational resources within the department.

Contribute to the preparation analysis and interpretation of data for manuscripts presentations and scientific reports. Participate as a coauthor on publications including work related to enzyme catalysis molecular modeling and comparative genomics. Support the dissemination of research findings within the College of Veterinary Medicine and the broader scientific community.

This is a full-time position; every full-time employee receives a full benefits package that includes health insurance life insurance retirement 13 paid holidays (including one full week off around Christmas/New Years) paid annual and sick leave and more. You also have free access to OSUs gym and fitness centers employee assistance program and free professional development through OSU.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors

  Bachelors degree in related field

  (degree must be conferred on or before agreed upon start date)

• Seven years of laboratory research experience -or- a masters degree and five years of demonstrated laboratory experience

  Demonstrated experience doing bioinformatics of proteins is expected.