The lab and research specialist will conduct growth experiments with pure cultures of strictly anaerobic methanogenic archaea, employing serum and serum bottles, and analyze these cultures employing UV-visible spectroscopy, and construct plasmid vectors for use in the construction mutant and modified strains of methanogenic archaea, analyze methanogenic properties of bovine rumen samples, and isolate methanogenic archaea from rumen samples.

The Laboratory and Research Specialist will formulate and prepare growth media for cultivating strictly anaerobic methanogenic archaea, cultivate these organisms on both soluble and gaseous substrates (hydrogen and carbon dioxide) in liquid (5-1,000 ml) and follow growth in liquid cultures by cell count as determined by use of a phase contrast microscope fitted with a Petroff-Hauser counter and optical density, perform UV-visible spectroscopy, perform molecular biology experiments (PCR, DNA purification, plasmid construction, transformation of E. coli), estimate the levels of proteins via chemical assays, and express heterologous proteins in E. coli and purify these to apparent homogeneity, perform bioinformatic analysis of DNA and protein sequences, and be proficient in the use of Microsoft Office and Snapgene and performing literature search covering the research areas as described above. Experiences in using an anaerobic chamber and working with strictly anaerobic methanogenic archaea are must.