Position title: Computational Biologist

Employer: Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Closing date: 31/07/2021

Brief position description: The Garvan Institute of Medical Research brings together world-leading basic and translational researchers with expert clinicians 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. And three major Centres: the Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics, the Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics, and the Centre for Population Genomics.

The Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics (KCCG) advances the use of genomic information in patient care. To do this, KCCG employs experts in genomics, including researchers, bioinformaticians, clinicians, educators and software engineers. We use and develop multi-omics technology to enhance diagnosis and treatment for patients.

The Opportunity

KCCG's Computational Biology Group is a newly established team focusing on genomics and biomedical data analysis and interpretation, combining computational skills with biological domain expertise. The team applies and develops computational methods to better understand human disease. We take a collaborative approach, working closely with experimental and clinical researchers to tackle problems that address critical unmet medical needs.

We are looking for a computational scientist to join our team. Successful candidates will work on genomics studies with experimental and clinical researchers across research themes at Garvan and KCCG. Example projects include liquid biopsy ctDNA analysis, nanopore sequencing of cancer genomes and epigenomes, genomics studies of the tumour microenvironment. Successful candidates will contribute to the different phases of genomics studies, including design and planning, data analysis, interpretation and manuscript writing.

Key Responsibilities

This position will be responsible for helping to provide direction and support in genomics studies. This will include:

Analysis of high-throughput datasets, including quality control, unsupervised and supervised analyses, with an emphasis on biological interpretation

Preparing figures for publication, contributing to manuscript writing

Experimental design and planning

Creating and maintaining modular and reusable workflows through use of container and workflow management technologies

Developing best practices for computational workflows through evaluation/benchmarking of existing methods and/or original method development

Import and analysis of external datasets as resource or for validation purposes

Staying informed on advances in genomics, computational methods, as well as building and maintaining biological domain expertise

Contribute to internal education programs through mentoring, technical supervision, code reviews

Occasionally represent KCCG at events, or talks with external stakeholders

About You

The following key skills and attributes are essential to undertaking the role:

PhD degree in a related area of science or engineering

Good knowledge of biology

Good statistical knowledge and programming skills

Previous experience working with next-generation sequencing data, e.g. RNA-seq, targeted or whole genome sequencing, ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, single-cell sequencing

Publication record commensurate with experience

Comfortable working with Unix and in an HPC environment

Proficient in at least one scripting language (R, Python, Perl)

Familiar with R/Bioconductor

Familiar with version control systems

Highly developed written and verbal communications skills

Ability to work independently

Desired

Postdoctoral research experience

Interest in personalised medicine and clinical genomics

Experience with nanopore sequencing data

Experience with single-cell sequencing data

Experience with software containers, workflow management systems, databases, cloud computing

How to Apply

Australian/NZ citizen, permanent resident or other applicants with full working rights can apply. To apply for this position, please submit your application including CV and cover letter. As we will be reviewing applications as they are received, we encourage you to submit yours as soon as possible.

Job website: https://garvan.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/garvan_institute/job/Sydney/Computational-Biologist_PRF5804-1

Contact name: Talent Acquisition Team

Contact email: talent@garvan.org.au