Research Associate - Bioinformatician

Job Summary

The post is funded as part of a research program to develop next-generation biological sensing devices encoded entirely by synthetic DNA for dementia-related diagnostic testing. This post is either for a Research Assistant (RA) or a Postdoc Research Associate (PDRA). Should a RA receive their PhD during the duration of this role they would progress to PDRA level.

This position is for a skilled, motivated and experienced bioinformatician to provide expert bioinformatics knowledge to help develop next generation sequencing (NGS) workflows. This includes assembly, annotation, identification and comparison of new computational solutions. Development of new pipelines, generating new tools and new database resources applicable to bacterial genomics, assembly, analysis and interpretation.

Duties and responsibilities

The purpose of the post is:

• To develop third generation sequencing data analysis tools for the early detection of UTIs.
• To establish a synthetic biology biomarker detection platform for the assessment of novel approaches to point-of-care neurodegenerative

Research Duties will include:

• To develop next generation sequencing (NGS) data analysis workflow and tools
• To take initiatives in the planning of research
• To direct the work of small research teams
• To identify and develop suitable techniques, and apparatus, for the collection and analysis of data
• To conduct data analysis
• To ensure the validity and reliability of data at all times
• To maintain accurate and complete records of all findings

Essential requirements

• Research Associate: Hold a PhD (or equivalent) in Bioinformatics or medical statistics or a closely related discipline, or equivalent research, industrial or commercial experience.
• Research Assistant: Near completion of a PhD (or equivalent) in Bioinformatics or medical statistics or a closely related discipline, or equivalent research, industrial or commercial experience.

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant.*

• Experience in assembly and analysis of bacterial whole genomes, in particular PacBio SMRT sequencing datasets
• Experience in analyses of sequencing datasets, in particular bacterial whole genomes and 16S RNA microbiome data
• Practical experience within a research environment and / or publication in relevant and refereed journals
• Knowledge in microbial genomics, metagenomics and/or comparative genomics
• Knowledge of long- and short-read sequencing technology e.g. Illumina/PacBio
• Strong scientific scripting/programming skills e.g. R, Python and Bash
• Use of Linux systems and High-Performance Computing environments
• Use of container and workflow management systems (e.g. Docker, Singularity, Nextflow, Snakemake or Galaxy).

Further Information

This is a Full Time and Fixed Term post for 2 years based onsite at the South Kensington and White City Campus.

Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as a Research Assistant within the salary range £41,694 - £44,888 per annum.

Should you require any further details on the role please contact: Paul Freemont - p.freemont@imperial.ac.uk

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