Temporary Cotton Breeding Research Associate

The research associate will be an integral member of the cotton breeding and genetics research team. The incumbent will play a major role in map-based cloning of agronomically important genes in cotton. Key responsibilities include conducting advanced genetic, genomic, and molecular biology experiments to determine gene structure and function to validate the candidate genes. Essential activities associated with this role include plant phenotyping; harvesting and processing seed; growing and maintaining genetic stocks in greenhouses; collecting tissue samples; performing DNA and RNA isolations; conducting multiple sequence alignments and phylogenetic analyses; qRT-PCR; virus-induced gene silencing; phytochemical analyses; and basic bioinformatics analyses. The research assistant is also expected to collaborate with team members to develop gene knockouts using CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing technologies and methodically documenting and summarizing results and assist in writing draft manuscripts.