Start Date: ASAP
Length: up to 4 months
Schedule: Full-time, 40 hours/week.
Stipend: $730/week, including housing
Location: This position is in collaboration with the Coastal Disease Ecology and Global Change
Ecology Laboratories at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater,
Maryland as well as the Gnanadesikan Lab at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore,
Maryland. The primary location for conducting the research will be at SERC, which is a research
center of the Smithsonian Institution, located on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay,
approximately 10 miles south of Annapolis. The 2,650-acre SERC campus contains a laboratory
and office complex, as well as educational and waterfront facilities.
Description: We are seeking 2-3 interns to work to conduct research on a Smithsonian- funded
project to explore the role of bacterial microbiomes in rapid adaptation to changing coastal
conditions for multiple marine invertebrates. The project will primarily consist of laboratory
work, conducting molecular genetic lab work to generate metagenomes of microbiomes from
oysters and blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, the intern will have the opportunity
to participate in lab and fieldwork associated with other ongoing projects in both the Coastal
Disease and Global Change Ecology Labs. In addition to working with the three PIs on this
project (Drs. Katrina Lohan, Genevieve Noyce, and Anand Gnandesikan), interns will also be
working closely with Leone Yisrael, a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University.
Learning objectives:
The intern will learn:
– molecular genetic lab techniques, including DNA extraction and enrichment protocols for
bacterial metagenomes
– analysis of metagenomic data in R
– eco-evolutionary concepts concerning how symbioses affect ecosystem processes and rapid
adaptation in coastal environments
