Employer: Children's Cancer Institute

Closing date: 01/09/2018 

Brief position description: • Innovative, collaborative and positive team-orientated environment
• Modern, world-class facilities
• Convenient Randwick location, close to transport

Children’s Cancer Institute is the only medical research institute in Australia wholly dedicated to curing childhood cancer and one of the leading medical childhood cancer research institutes worldwide. Our vision is to save the lives of all children with cancer and improve their long-term health, we don’t just hope to do it, we will do it; and we’re looking for the brightest minds to help us get there. Children’s Cancer Institute provides the best possible environment for our staff thrive with state-of-the-art facilities at the Lowy Cancer Research Centre, UNSW Australia – one of the leading cancer research centres in the world. 


We are leading the national Zero Childhood Cancer personalised medicine program for children with the most aggressive cancers, in partnership with the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network. Zero Childhood Cancer is the most exciting childhood cancer research initiative ever undertaken in Australia and is a world-leading initiative www.zerochildhoodcancer.org.au. 


Children’s Cancer Institute is seeking an ambitious, driven rising star to establish and lead a world class and innovative program in child cancer computational biology on a Full-time fixed-term contract for approximately 5 years with great prospects for extension. You will harness the power of our Zero Childhood Cancer national child cancer personalised medicine program to develop an expanding program involving computational biology approaches to understanding child cancer biology with the goal of translating this knowledge into improved treatment for children with cancer and other rare diseases. 


The data that will be generated by the Zero Childhood Cancer program will be a globally unique resource, providing opportunities to explore paediatric cancers in greater depth than ever before. The ability to analyse and mine these data is a core component of the Institute’s ultimate goal, which is to improve the clinical outcomes for children with cancer and their families. With an expected 400 patients to be enrolled on the program, the Institute must be in a position to engage with, explore, and link data, to invent solutions for the future, to generate new knowledge and new connections, driving further basic and translational research in the context of an expanding child cancer precision medicine program and associated research projects and programs across the institute. In addition, working with our clinical and research partners in child health research and clinical care across Sydney, there will be opportunities to access additional data sets in other rare diseases of childhood. 


You are a senior computational biologist who is motivated to build a strong research team undertaking world class research and will embed computational biology expertise throughout all research programs at the institute. In order to be able to analyse and interpret the vast amounts of data that will be yielded by this and other world class Programs housed at Children’s Cancer Institute, it will be essential that you have the skills and expertise to lead the computational analysis and methods development that will leverage and maximise the outputs of the high dimensional multi-‘omics, biological, and clinical data sets. These include Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), whole transcriptome (RNASeq), single cell and spatial transcriptomics, ctDNA and CTC, proteomics, in vitro high content imaging high throughput drug screening, drug efficacy testing in patient derived xenografts, and drug response prediction. 

There will be strong emphasis on the translation of research in to potential clinical application which will facilitate:
• Prospective research
• Enabling point of care applications
• Focus on clinically / medically relevant problem solving
• Developing efficient, scalable, cloud-based algorithms for clinically robust data analysis, and archiving and housing of data knowledgebase
• Developing the building blocks for ‘omics literate workforce of the future, creating a nimble, diverse centre for education, training, and mentorship, to co-create knowledge, and improve knowledge transfer and mobilisation

Supported by a team including a Head of Research Computing, software engineer, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students, you will be expected to take leadership of exciting research questions we are actively pursuing in the domains of exploring relationships between omics and biological profiles and individual responses or resistance to existing and novel therapeutics, better understanding the impact of inherited cancer risk, single cell analysis to study tumour heterogeneity and microenvironment, and the impact it has on treatment response, and liquid biopsy solid tumour minimal residual disease. You will be experienced in attracting ongoing independent research funding in to the future to ensure sustainability of your group long term, and demonstrate excellent open, transparent communication and relationship management skills to nurture existing collaborations and pursue new ones globally to leverage and contribute to child cancer data sets internationally.

Children’s Cancer Institute is strongly committed to the growth of their employees, so all team members can fulfil their aspirations. You'll be rewarded with a friendly and professional flexible work environment, comprehensive on-campus facilities, competitive salary, salary packaging options, on-site parking options, access to a leading EAP program and regular social activities. Join a group of dedicated people in a performance-driven environment to achieve success and discover what it's like to look forward to coming to work every day and make a real difference. We're looking for people who share our values of accountability, integrity and camaraderie, teamwork, sharing and excellence, success and satisfaction. 


This is an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated rising star to form the backbone of Australia’s first computational paediatric oncology group, which will give Australia an international leadership position in this exciting new field. A detailed job description and additional information about Children's Cancer Institute can be found on our website at: www.childrenscancerinstitute.org.au. We embrace diversity and encourage applications from people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. 

To apply, please apply though our website: https://ccia.org.au/home/join-us/job-vacancies/ and forward both your resume AND cover letter clearly addressing the qualifications, experience and skills required. Note: Applications will be reviewed prior to the closing date; which is dependent on the status of the recruitment process. For any advertisement related queries, please contact Vanessa Tyrrell, Personalised Medicine Program Leader at VTyrrell@ccia.org.au or on +61 (02) 9385 1302. Otherwise contact Recruitment at Recruitment@ccia.org.au or on +61 (02) 9385 1660. 

Job website: https://ccia.org.au/home/join-us/job-vacancies/

Contact name: Lindsay Kilgour

Contact email: Recruitment@ccia.org.au