Postdoc: Ancient Microbial Ecogenomics

KU - SCIENCE - SNM; Denmark; On-site; DKK 450,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

The Globe Institute, part of the University of Copenhagen, invites applications for three two-year postdoctoral positions in functional ancient microbial ecology as part of the AEGIS initiative. Start date 1 November 2026 or soon after, with three focus areas: computational ancient metabolomics and natural products, CAZymes and metabolism, and protein language models for ancient metagenomics.

Successful candidates will analyse aeDNA datasets, develop methods, and collaborate across AEGIS to

Qualifications

• PhD in bioinformatics, genomics, community ecology, computational biology, computational metabolomics or a related field.
• Experience analysing large-scale ancient metagenomic datasets.
• Experience investigating microbial genes, metabolic pathways, functional traits or community-level processes.
• Experience with ancient or degraded DNA analysis, authentication and analysis of fragmented data.
• For the protein language model position, experience with ML models for protein sequences.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to work in an interdisciplinary context.
• Proficient communication skills and teamwork; excellent English.

Responsibilities

• Analyse large-scale aeDNA datasets generated by high-throughput sequencing.
• Develop computational methods to study microbial functions in ancient metagenomes.
• Collaborate with colleagues across AEGIS to evaluate predictions and interpret them ecologically and evolutionarily.
• Study carbohydrate-active enzymes, biosynthetic gene clusters and natural products, and develop protein language models for ancient metagenomes.

Skills

Bioinformatics

Genomics

Community ecology

Computational biology

Computational metabolomics

Machine learning (protein sequences)

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Communication in English

Education

PhD in bioinformatics / genomics / computational biology / related field

Tools

R

Python

HPC environments

Job description

The Globe Institute, part of the University of Copenhagen, invites applications for three two-year postdoctoral positions in functional ancient microbial ecology as part of the AEGIS initiative. Start date 1 November 2026 or soon after, with three focus areas: computational ancient metabolomics and natural products, CAZymes and metabolism, and protein language models for ancient metagenomics.

Successful candidates will analyse aeDNA datasets, develop methods, and collaborate across AEGIS to