The Marshall Lab at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health is seeking to hire a postdoctoral scholar to work on mathematical and computational aspects of genetics-based strategies to control mosquito vectors of malaria, dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases. The position is initially for two years, with the possibility of extension, and is available early to mid-2024. Salary is commensurate with experience (see salary scale here: https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2023-24/oct-2023-acad-salary-scales/t23.pdf), and full benefits are included (see here: https://c2mb.ajg.com/uc/home/).

The successful candidate will work on exciting collaborative projects with a consortium of mathematical modelers, molecular biologists, ecologists and epidemiologists throughout the University of California system and beyond. Molecular biology labs that we collaborate with include the Akbari Lab and Bier Lab at UC San Diego, and the James Lab at UC Irvine. We also work with mosquito ecologists at the Ifakara Health Institute (Tanzania), QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (Australia), and the National Environment Agency (Singapore). We collaborate with the malaria modeling group at Imperial College London (UK), the Malaria Elimination Initiative at UC San Francisco, and with a consortium of gene drive modelers from the Target Malaria and Transmission Zero projects (Dr. Penny Hancock, Dr. Ace North and Dr. Prashanth Selvaraj).

Tasks that we are seeking help with include:

• Working with molecular biologists to develop and parameterize models of genetic control systems
• Calibrating ecological and epidemiological models to available mosquito and vector-borne disease data
• Contributing to development of our modeling framework, the Mosquito Gene Drive Explorer (MGDrivE) (https://marshalllab.github.io/MGDrivE/)
• Providing modeling input to field trial design and risk assessment
• Mentoring PhD, Masters and undergraduate students

An ideal candidate will have:

• A strong background in applied mathematics, statistics and/or computer science
• Experience with ecological/epidemiological modeling, or population genetics/genomics
• An interest in mosquitoes and/or mosquito-borne diseases
• An interest in mentoring students and promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in research

If you are interested in the position, please send: i) your CV, including a list of publications, ii) PDFs of your two most significant publications/manuscripts to date, iii) the names and email addresses of three potential referees, and iv) a cover letter describing your research interests and motivations for joining our lab to John Marshall at john.marshall@berkeley.edu. Inquiries are also welcome. Additional information about the research in our lab can be found at https://www.marshalllab.com/. The position will remain open until filled. The first review date will be March 1st, 2024.

UC Berkeley has large and vibrant public health, ecology and computational biology communities spanning the School of Public Health, the Center for Computational Biology, the Innovative Genomics Institute, the Department of Integrative Biology, the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, and more. UC Berkeley offers competitive salaries, excellent benefits and is an equal opportunity employer. The City of Berkeley and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area is known for its progressive values, vibrant social and cultural scene, and beautiful surrounding environment.