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Bioinformatics Analyst II - Genomic Analysis Laboratory, Dr. Joseph Ecker

Employer
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Location
La Jolla, CA

Job Details

Application Instructions:

Employment History Include your last ten (10) years of employment history, or length of your employment history if less, including all position (even those that are not relevant to this position) and periods of unemployment. Incomplete information could disqualify you from further consideration.

POSITION SUMMARY

Large-scale-single-cell methylome profiling is the current state-of-art for studies that require the DNA methylation profiles at base resolution in heterogenous tissues. Single cell DNA methylation profiling offers the advantage of obtaining uniform genome wide coverage at cellular resolution. snmC-seq3 is an improved version of snmC-seq that provides better throughput, library complexity, coverage uniformity, and read mapping. This method is being used routinely in various projects including the DARPA-funded ECHO and MBA projects and several NIH BRAIN projects for identifying DNA methylation patterns and their effects in samples such as blood cells and the brain.

The Bioinformatics Analyst II will work closely with other members of the project and the Ecker laboratory to advance the computational approaches involved in data analysis of snmC-seq datasets. The analyst will contribute directly to research projects by implementing, optimizing and executing the currently available pipelines that include mapping, QC, visualization, and reporting. The analyst will be required to develop advanced computational and statistical methods for big-data analysis. The analyst will be expected to create and implement machine learning algorithms for identifying patterns and signatures relevant to biological datasets. Finally, the analyst will play part in administrating shared computer resources, such as compute and storage servers.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Bioinformatics Analysis (85%)

  • Work independently to develop advanced computational and statistical methods for big-data analysis.
  • Work independently to create and implement machine learning algorithms for identifying patterns and signatures relevant to biological datasets.
  • Work independently or with limited supervision on informatics research projects under direction from senior core staff or with research collaborators.
  • Work with Institute researchers and contribute to scientific discovery by implementing, optimizing and executing computational approaches for DNA methylation analysis, mapping, genome sequence analysis, transcriptome analysis, and data visualization.
  • Use published and available pipelines, scripts, and tools to prepare and process large datasets.
  • Work in a high-performance computing environment.
  • Keep informed of new developments and technical advances in the bioinformatics, image processing, visualization, genomics and biological fields related to current projects.
  • Research, implement, and test, and present on new tools and pipelines for high-throughput data analysis.
  • Independent design and coding of analysis pipelines and cutting-edge bioinformatics analysis algorithms.
  • Participate in the design, coding, and presentation of novel analysis tools for cutting-edge bioinformatics analysis.
  • Present advanced analysis results, tools, and pipelines at group meetings and contribute to publications in scientific journals.

Research Design and Presentation (5%)

  • Contribute and assist with project inception, experimental design, analysis and manuscript presentation.
  • Work on the preparation of data for, manuscripts, publications, grant applications, posters and other presentations.
  • Present results verbally and with visual aids in one-on-one meetings, group meetings, or conferences.
  • Maintain lab notebook, online code-share repositories such as GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket, etc including experimental design, time, methods, materials and results.
  • Maintain code in shareable IDEs such as Jupyter to enable easy reproducibility of results

Maintenance and Management of Bioinformatics Resources (10%)

  • Prepare allocation requests, benchmarks, progress reports etc. for HPC resources
  • Help maintain scripts, software, website, tools, wiki, and pipelines used in the lab.
  • Help ensure that lab servers and hardware are operating properly and report all possible problems.
  • Help users of lab software and servers to troubleshoot potential problems.
  • Liaise with IT department and manufacturers with regard to hardware maintenance.

EXPERIENCE

 Required:

  •  Typically requires a minimum of 3 years of relevant bioinformatics experience with a Master’s degree. If PhD, experience acquired through PhD program may be considered in lieu of professional experience.
  • Hands-on work experience in statistics and machine learning.
  • Relevant experience acquired through education and/or profession must include: proficiency in Python programming; fluency in at least 2 common programming languages (Bash, AWK, or R); next-generation sequencing technologies and assays; and high performance computing (e.g., SGE environment)
  • Experience with making presentations to and communicating effectively with various levels of staff.

Preferred:

  •  Minimum of 1 year analysis experience on DNA methylation datasets and/or single cell datasets
  • Minimum of 2 years analysis experience with NGS / High-throughput sequencing data analysis
  • Experience in biology

 EDUCATION

 Required:

  •  MS degree in bioinformatics, computational biology, computer science, biological sciences, bioengineering, mathematics, statistics or related discipline or equivalent relevant experience.

 Preferred

  •  PhD degree in bioinformatics, computational biology, computer science, biological sciences, bioengineering, mathematics, statistics or related discipline or equivalent relevant experience.
  • Courses undertaken should have major focus on biology.

 SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Required:

  •  Proven organizational and time management skills to successfully set priorities, meet established deadlines and recognize new problems with constantly changing priorities and frequent interruptions.
  • Strong communication skills (both verbal and written) needed to interact professionally and effectively in the work environment. Ability to read, comprehend, and discuss research materials. Proven ability to write, edit and proofread research results. Skill at explaining difficult concepts and training users and students.
  • Ability to interact diplomatically and professionally with all levels of Institute staff and external contacts.
  • Ability to identify, download, install, troubleshoot and assess new analysis tools.
  • Demonstrated knowledge and experience with MAC or Linux/UNIX operating systems.  

Preferred:

  •  Experience applying machine learning approaches for image processing, data integration and data mining.
  • Theoretical and practical knowledge of biological sciences (particularly genetic and molecular biology).

 SPECIAL CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

  •  Satisfactory completion of the Institute’s background investigation.
  • Must be willing to sign confidentiality agreement
  • Must be willing to work in an animal-related research environment.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

This position requires constant adjusting focus, grasping, handling, hearing, keying, seeing, sitting, talking, touching/feeling, analyzing, calculating, communicating, reading, reasoning, writing and working inside. 

 

Organization

Working at Salk Institute for Biological Studies

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is one of the world's preeminent basic research institutions, where internationally renowned faculty probe fundamental life science questions in a unique, collaborative, and creative environment. Focused on both discovery and mentoring future generations of researchers, Salk scientists make groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of cancer, aging, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and cardiovascular disorders by studying neuroscience, genetics, cell and plant biology, and related disciplines.

Faculty achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including Nobel Prizes and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences. Founded in 1960 by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk, M.D., the Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark.

Salk Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination Statement

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is committed to providing equal access to opportunities for students, employees, applicants for employment and other persons.

Our policies prohibit harassment or unlawful discrimination against individuals on the basis of sex, gender, marital or parental status, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, medical conditions/disabilities related to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation age, ancestry, color, religion (including religious dress and grooming practices), family and/or medical care leave status, disability (mental or physical), registered domestic partner status, legally protected medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status (disabled veteran, veteran of the Vietnam era, other covered veteran status), national origin (including language use restrictions and possession of a driver’s license), race, religion or any other classification protected by local, state or federal laws.

The Salk Institute participates in the E-Verify program.

Reasonable accommodation is available for qualified individuals with disabilities and for individuals with religious restrictions.

 

https://www.salk.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/infographic-2019-0619.pdf

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