Position title: Computational Biology Lead

Employer: Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Closing date: 30/4/2021

Brief position description: The Garvan Institute of Medical Research brings together world-leading clinicians and basic and translational researchers to break down barriers between traditional scientific disciplines and find solutions to disease. Founded in 1963, Garvan’s mission is to harness all the information encoded in our genome to better diagnose, treat, predict and prevent disease.

Our scientists work across four intersecting research themes: medical genomics, epigenetics, and cellular genomics; diseases of immunity and inflammation; cancer; and diseases of ageing affecting bone, brain and metabolism. In addition, three major Centres: The Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics, the Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics, and the Centre for Population Genomics.

The Opportunity

Through the generous and long-term support of Snow Medical, the Genomic Medicine Lab is launching an ambitious program to understand the clinical impact of both inherited and acquired genetic variation. Drawing upon three core strengths of the Garvan Institute, our focus is to use large-scale population, clinical, and cellular genomics to understand, predict, treat, and prevent disease. A key interest is understanding the impact of clonal haematopoiesis and somatic mutation in diseases of inflammation, ageing, and blindness.

An integral part of our program will be the manipulation of large-scale genomic and clinical datasets, and the application of statistical models to understand the impact of inherited and acquired genetic variation in disease risk.

The Computational Biology Lead will be responsible for developing an analysis strategy for germline and somatic variation calling across very large and diverse genomic datasets, for developing pipelines for clinical association analyses, and for working closely with colleagues in the Centre for Population Genomics (led by Dr Daniel MacArthur) to implement these at scale.

This will be a leadership role, with the opportunity to supervise a team and lead the production of high-impact publications. We are interested in recruiting a talented early career researcher with a commitment to research in the field, with a view to supporting their development as a successful independent researcher.

This will initially be a two year full-time role with a high possibility to extend and is a unique opportunity to develop leadership skills in a new and well-supported environment, performing research with a high potential for clinical impact.

Salary will be commensurate with relevant experience, starting at $96,324 AUD plus 14% superannuation and salary packaging benefits. We are open to sponsoring exceptional international applicants.

Key Responsibilities

Working closely with team members and colleagues in the Centre for Population Genomics and Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics to develop and implement plans for the processing and analysis of germline and somatic variants in large-scale genomic and clinical datasets, and to develop a broader scientific strategy for the team as a whole.

Developing and maintaining computational pipelines, infrastructure, and resources across cloud-based platforms and/or on-premises hardware.

Producing rigorous empirical results, generating publication-quality images and text, and leading the production of peer-reviewed publications.

Building and co-supervising a team of students and junior staff with diverse skills across computational biology.

Presenting research methods and results at national and international conferences.

Producing and submitting fellowship and other funding applications.

About You

In order to be successful in this position, you will demonstrate the following key skills and attributes:

A PhD in computational biology, statistical genetics, cancer genomics, computer science, or a related field with at least 2 to 3 years of relevant postdoctoral research experience

Strong computational and statistical skills, including comfort with complex scientific programming, ideally in R and Python. Direct experience with cloud computing platforms (e.g. GCP, AWS) and large genomic datasets (e.g. UK Biobank, FinnGen) is a plus.

Highly autonomous and self-motivated: able to define and manage the execution of strategies for analysis across a wide range of technical areas, from basic sequence quality control through to analysis of large genomic and clinical datasets.

Excellent written communication skills: demonstrated ability to lead the production of manuscripts, grant and ethics applications, and technical reports.

Excellent verbal communication skills, with an ability to effectively represent the research team internally and externally, including the presentation of research outcomes at national and international conferences.

Highly collaborative: able to build and maintain relationships within and between teams, and comfortable engaging in complex discussions remotely through the use of collaborative tools (e.g. Google Docs/Sheets/Slides, Zoom, Slack). Demonstrated supervisory experience in a research environment a plus.

A problem-solving mentality: able to navigate complex technical obstacles, and work effectively with other team members and colleagues to solve them when needed.

How to Apply

To apply for this position, please submit your application with a CV and cover letter stating why you are interested in this role, along with copies of relevant qualifications/academic transcripts and details of at least two referees. We are reviewing applications as they are received.

Visa sponsorships can be considered for exceptional international applicants. If you think you’re the right person for this role, we’d love to hear how your capabilities, achievements and experience set you apart. For any further questions about this role please reach out to talent@garvan.org.au

Job website: http://garvan.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/garvan_institute/job/Sydney/Computational-Biology-Lead_PRF5853-1

Contact name: Michelle Earle

Contact email: talent@garvan.org.au