USDA-ARS Fellowship in Swine Viral Disease Research
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
A complete application in a minute
Tailored resume and cover letter, ready to send.
Job summary
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) is offering a research opportunity with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service in Ames, Iowa.
The role focuses on animal and veterinary science, performing live animal studies with swine and evaluating disease pathology under BSL-2 conditions. The appointment runs for one year starting January 2027, with renewal possible based on funds and performance.
Qualifications
- Candidate should have received a degree within the last five years or by 5/31/2027.
- U.S. citizenship is required for eligibility.
- Fields: Life Health and Medical Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, and related disciplines.
Responsibilities
- Plan, execute, and analyze swine challenge studies using PRRSV or PEDV.
- Prepare study design protocols and perform infectious challenge and necropsies.
- Process specimens and interpret data with mentors and collaborators.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
USDA-ARS-MWA-2026-0365
11/20/2026 3:00:00 PM Eastern Time Zone
- Applications are reviewed on a rolling-basis and applications may close before the deadline.
A research opportunity is currently available with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), located in Ames, Iowa.
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency with a mission to find solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table. ARS will deliver cutting-edge, scientific tools and innovative solutions for American farmers, producers, industry, and communities to support the nourishment and well-being of all people; sustain our nation's agroecosystems and natural resources; and ensure the economic competitiveness and excellence of our agriculture. The vision of the agency is to provide global leadership in agricultural discoveries through scientific excellence.
The National Animal Disease Center (NADC) in Ames, IA is the American farmer's one-stop shop for animal health, food safety, and disease research and has the experience, expertise, and biosecurity needed to work with all economically important livestock, poultry, and wildlife—from chickens to bison and everything in between. This opportunity is in the endemic swine viruses laboratory group of the Virus and Prion Research Unit, which advances a comprehensive research program in virology, immunology, veterinary science, and computational biology to develop solutions for protecting United States swine herds from endemic viral disease threats.
You will gain experience in animal and/or veterinary science to perform live animal studies and subsequent evaluations of swine viral disease pathology, preventions, and/or treatments. Experiments will be performed with conventional swine of all production stages and will primarily involve inoculation with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) or porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) as the infectious agents to advance basic and applied research goals, such as understanding host-pathogen interactions or efficacy of viral control strategies. You will be involved in all phases of research, with an emphasis placed on participation in animal study preparation and execution. Post-collection processing and analysis of animal specimens may also be performed through laboratory assays, along with opportunities to interpret and communicate research findings. Exposure to additional assays and analyses for methods such as flow cytometry, cell culture/stimulations, and RNA sequencing (bulk, single-cell, spatial) may also be available based on your interests. Research endeavors are intrinsically collaborative and foster synergistic relationships with scientists across multiple ARS research institutions/national programs, academic institutions, and research consortiums.
Under the guidance of a mentor, you will have the opportunity to learn to: (a) plan, execute, analyze, and communicate results from swine challenge studies utilizing PRRSV or PEDV as the infectious agents; (b) prepare study design protocols; (c) perform infectious challenge, sampling, and necropsies; (d) process specimens in the laboratory; (e) analyze and interpret data; and (f) communicate findings.
The mentor for this opportunity is Jayne Wiarda (jayne.wiarda@usda.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentor.
January - June 2027.
The appointment will initially be for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of ARS and is contingent on the availability of funds.
The appointment is full time.
This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens only.
This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and ARS. Participants do not become employees of USDA, ARS, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.
The qualified candidate should be currently pursuing or have received an associate's, bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree (including DVM, PhD, and MD) in the one of the relevant fields. Degree must have been received within the past five years, or anticipated to be received by 5/31/2027.
- Awareness and ability to adhere to ethical guidelines for animal care and use in a research setting
- Knowledge of swine veterinary science, virology, and/or immunology
- Ability to perform animal and laboratory research in biosecurity level 2 (BSL-2) environments
- Ability to handle and restrain pigs for veterinary procedures
- Ability to collect minimally invasive samples (e.g. blood, swabs) from pigs
- Ability to run laboratory assays on animal-derived samples (e.g. RNA isolation, RT-qPCR, ELISA, IHC)
- Ability to function as a teammate in a collaborative research environment
$40,000.00 – $65,000.00 Yearly
Michele
- Citizenship: U.S. Citizen Only
- Degree: Associate's Degree, Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree, or Doctoral Degree received within the last 60 months or currently pursuing.
- Discipline(s):
- Life Health and Medical Sciences
- Agricultural Sciences
- Agriculture
- Agronomy and Crop Science
- Anatomy
- Animal Behavior
- Animal Health and Food Safety
- Animal Sciences
- Basic Biomedical Sciences
- Biochemistry
- Bioinformatics
- Biology (General)
- Biophysics
- Botany
- Cellular and Molecular Biology
- Comparative Medicine and Laboratory Animal Medicine
- Computational Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Ecology
- Ecosystem Ecology
- Emergency and Incident Management
- Entomology
- Environmental Health
- Epidemiology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Food Sciences and Technology
- Genetics, including Genome Sciences
- Health Physics
- Horticulture
- Immunology
- Industrial Hygiene
- Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses
- Kinesiology and Exercise Physiology
- Medicine
- Microbiology
- Neurosciences
- Nursing
- Nutritional Sciences
- Occupational Health
- Pharmacology
- Pharmacy
- Physiology
- Plant Sciences
- Population and Community Ecology
- Population Medicine
- Public Health
- Structural Biology
- Toxicology
- Veterinary Sciences
- Virology
- Wildlife Sciences
- Zoology (General)
- Veteran Status: Veterans Preference, degree received within the last 120 month(s).
'/%3e%3cpath%20d='M101.744%2012.4726L102.894%2016.1947L99.0021%2013.2201L101.744%2012.4726ZM105.3%208.40937H100.488L99.0026%203.59473L97.5116%208.41047L92.7%208.40385L96.5965%2011.3834L95.1055%2016.1942L99.0021%2013.2196L101.408%2011.3834L105.3%208.40992V8.40937Z'%20fill='white'/%3e%3cdefs%3e%3clinearGradient%20id='paint0_linear_5593_1381'%20x1='90'%20y1='9.44471'%20x2='99'%20y2='9.44471'%20gradientUnits='userSpaceOnUse'%3e%3cstop%20stop-color='%2300AD70'/%3e%3cstop%20offset='0.998594'%20stop-color='%2300B67A'/%3e%3cstop%20offset='1'%20stop-color='%23DCDCE6'/%3e%3c/linearGradient%3e%3c/defs%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}
