City : Hamilton

Category : Other

Industry : Education

Employer : McMaster University

Project overview

Our program aims to:

- Experimentally improve/optimize sedaDNA workflows (extraction/purification, library preparation, capture enrichment, and metagenomic analysis) for terrestrial permafrost and marine sediments.

- Use these improved methods to reconstruct long-term terrestrial and marine ecosystem dynamics across the Quaternary, focusing on Canadian relic permafrost deposits and Pacific marine cores around Vancouver Island and the Canadian Arctic.

- Build the Canadian Ancient DNA (Can-aDNA) Network, a national platform for methodological sharing, training, and coordinated method comparisons/validation across Canadian ancient DNA labs.

Focus: Marine sediment cores from Barkley Canyon (deep sea) and Saanich Inlet (nearshore, varved sediments) among other sites with available cores (such as Howe Sound and seamounts in Queen Charlotte Sound) to reconstruct long and short-term marine biodiversity and food-web dynamics, and to develop improved marine sedaDNA protocols.

Example activities:

- Lead sedaDNA work on archived cores from the Institute for Ocean Sciences and related repositories, spanning the late Pleistocene and Holocene.

- Combine DNA metabarcoding, ddPCR, and hybridization capture to track changes in plankton, macrophytes, and fish communities through time.

- Link sedaDNA signals to known oceanographic records (e.g., productivity, oxygenation, carbon cycling) and physical core stratigraphy.

- Help benchmark and refine marine sedaDNA workflows for broader use in palaeo-oceanography and conservation applications.

Responsibilities

- Lead an independent but collaborative research program within your thematic area (permafrost, marine, or bioinformatics), including experimental design, data generation, analysis, and manuscript preparation.

- Mentor and collaborate with PhD candidates and other trainees working on related sedaDNA projects (with 1-2 PhD and/or MSc students).

- Contribute to the Can-aDNA Network, including organizing and moderating online seminars, helping coordinate annual symposia, and engaging with the national community through the online forum.

- Spend time at both the Hakai Institute Biodiversity Genomics facilities on Quadra Island, BC (near the city of Campbell River on Vancouver Island) and McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario), and other collaborating institutions as needed.

- Present research at national and international conferences and contribute to open, reproducible data and method sharing.

Qualifications

Required:

- PhD (completed or near completion) in a relevant field such as ancient DNA, molecular ecology, biomolecular archaeology, evolutionary genomics, bioinformatics, marine science, Quaternary science, or a related discipline.

- Demonstrated experience with ancient or environmental DNA and/or high-throughput sequencing data, with contamination control for the wet-lab-heavy roles, or with large-scale sequence data analysis and pipelines for the bioinformatics role.

- Strong quantitative, analytical, and writing skills, with evidence of peer-reviewed publications commensurate with career stage.

- Ability to work collaboratively within a multi-institution, interdisciplinary team and to mentor junior trainees.

Preferred:

- Background in marine ecology, oceanography, marine genomics, or sedimentary records; familiarity with metabarcoding, ddPCR, or marine monitoring data is an asset.

Terms and compensation

- Appointment length: 2 years (with the possibility of extension subject to funding)

- Annual salary: CAD $70,000 plus benefits (provided in accordance with McMaster University guidelines.)

- Postdoctoral fellows will be employees of McMaster University, working closely with and spending time at the Hakai Institute .

- normal hours of work are 35 hours per week.