Data Scientist​/Postdoctoral Researcher group ‘Evolutionary Processes Modeling

The Institute

The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) is an international biomedical research institute of excellence, based in Barcelona, Spain, with more than 400 scientists from 44 countries. The CRG is composed by an interdisciplinary, motivated and creative scientific team which is supported both by flexible and efficient administration and by high-end and innovative technologies.

In April 2021, the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) received the renewal of the 'HR Excellence in Research' Award from the European Commission. This is a recognition of the Institute's commitment to developing an HR Strategy for Researchers, designed to bring the practices and procedures in line with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (Charter and Code).

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We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join the “Evolutionary Processes Modeling” group. The selected candidate will be in charge of finishing ongoing projects in the group, involving the development of probabilistic methods for the identification of non-coding cancer driver elements and of the tumor mode of growth. The ideal candidate should be highly motivated and eager to work on evolutionary and biological problems through the use and development of computational and statistical approaches.

The candidate will analyze data, develop a computational pipeline and test biological hypotheses.

Cancer is a genetic disease, subject to population genetics forces like mutation, selection and stochasticity. Our group is particularly interested in how the evolution and survival of cancer cell populations relies on mutation influx and in how cancer driver events can be identified from observed mutation data. To this end, we develop mathematical and computational approaches to estimate mutation rates, tumor growth dynamics and selection.

Analysis of the mutational processes acting in cancer genomes allows us to learn about carcinogenic mutagens (https://(Usted puede enviar una solicitud o contactar con nosotros por email usando el Buzón de Solicitud online de abajo)), while studying the spatial genetic heterogeneity of tumors tells us about the tumor mode of growth (). Estimates of the strength of selection in cancer allow a prioritization of genes and non-coding regions by their disease relevance, with the ultimate goal of promoting therapeutic advances.

Coding sequences of cancer tumors not only exhibit positively selected mutations that drive cancer (), but also a small fraction of genes that the tumor cannot afford to lose (). In addition to genes, cancer driver loci can occur in the non-coding part of the genome ().

We are also interested in mutation rates and selection inference in the context of human genetic variation, including from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (; ; ) and de novo variants (). Here, a particular focus of the group lies on the description of purifying selection in humans and across species, accounting for mutational processes as well as the effects of genetic drift.

The Evolutionary Processes Modeling lab was established in October 2018 and is part of the “Computational Biology and Health Genomics” program at the CRG. Further information can be found at  and .eu/en/programmes-groups/weghorn-lab.

Professional experience

• Must have:
  Familiar with the principles of evolutionary processes or population genetics.
• Experience with computer programming.
• Experience with modeling, statistical analysis and/or machine learning.
• Experience with DNA- or RNA-sequencing data analysis is a plus.

Education and training

• Hold a PhD degree in population genetics, physics, statistics, bioinformatics, or a related discipline.

Languages

• Fluent in English.

Technical skills

• Experience with computational data analysis.
• Familiar with modeling and statistical analysis.

Competences

• Highly developed organizational skills.
• Good communication skills.

• Contract duration:
  Technical and scientific activities contract (estimated duration until September 2027).
• Estimated annual gross salary:
  Salary…