Assistant or Associate Professor - Synthetic Biology, Biotechnology, and Applied Biochemistry

About the role

The Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics (BMBB) seeks to hire two tenure-track/tenured faculty at the assistant or associate professor rank with research in synthetic biology, biotechnology, and applied biochemistry with environmental applications. The new faculty will develop extramurally funded research programs using biochemical, computational and artificial intelligence tools to engineer proteins and enzymes, metabolism, and nucleic acids and genomes. Environmental applications of interest include carbon capture, circular bioeconomy, remediation, environmental engineering, renewable biomanufacturing, biosensors and monitoring, and waste biotechnology and resource recovery.

Research focus

• Engineer proteins, enzymes, metabolism, nucleic acids and genomes using biochemical, computational and AI tools
• Develop extramurally funded research programs with environmental applications such as carbon capture, circular bioeconomy, remediation, environmental engineering, renewable biomanufacturing, biosensors and monitoring, and waste biotechnology and resource recovery

Teaching and service

• Contribute to undergraduate and graduate educational programs
• Provide research mentorship to students and trainees
• Engage in academic and professional service

Qualifications

• PhD in biochemistry, molecular biology, or related discipline
• Commitment to teaching and mentoring students and trainees
• Evaluation criteria: research accomplishments, future research plan and extramural funding potential, publication record, teaching experience and philosophy
• Associate professor applicants: record of research and scholarship, extramural funding, teaching, mentorship, and service since establishing independence

Start-up support

Competitive startup package, salary, and research space.

Department and college environment

BMBB is part of the College of Biological Sciences and the Medical School. Department strengths include biochemistry, biotechnology, synthetic biology, metabolism, proteomics, molecular genetics, signaling, and structural biology. BMBB supports an undergraduate biochemistry major and doctoral program and houses core facilities in cryo-electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray crystallography, metabolomics and proteomics. The department interfaces with university-wide initiatives in biotechnology, supercomputing, biomanufacturing, genomics, structural biology, field stations, and advanced imaging.

Salary

• Assistant professor: $103,000–$107,000 (9-month salary)
• Associate professor: $113,000–$128,000 (9-month salary)
• Compensation based on individual credentials and experience; initial pay may not reach the maximum of the range

Benefits

• Paid holidays and generous time off
• Continuous learning opportunities through professional training and degree-seeking programs supported by the Regents Tuition Benefit Program
• Low-cost medical, dental, and pharmacy plans; healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts; University HSA contributions
• Disability and employer-paid life insurance; employee wellbeing program
• Excellent retirement plans with employer contribution
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness opportunity and financial counseling services
• Employee Assistance Program with eight no-cost counseling sessions
• Employee Transit Pass with free or reduced rates in the Twin Cities metro area