Bioinformatics Research Scientist; TIRTL Collaborative Center

Bioinformatics Research Scientist (TIRTL Collaborative Center)

Location:

Memphis, TN

Category:
Computational Sciences

Department:
Host Microbe Interactions

Shift: Weekday Day

Position Type:
Full Time

Scheduled Weekly

Hours:

40

Job

Position Overview:

The Tracking the Immune Repertoire of Tumor Lymphocytes (TIRTL) Bluesky program in the Host–Microbe Interactions Department e supports multiple institutional research and clinical programs focused on immune repertoire profiling. Building on the foundational TIRTL‑seq method, we provide cohort‑scale T cell and B cell receptor sequencing, enabling research in cancer immunology, infectious disease, and antibody discovery across the institution.

We are seeking a Bioinformatics Research Scientist to develop, maintain, and scale robust computational pipelines that support high‑throughput immune repertoire sequencing and antibody discovery across cancer and infectious disease programs. This individual will work closely with experimental scientists, clinicians, and data science teams to deliver reproducible, production‑ready analyses as part of a centralized service.

• Independently perform basic and advanced statistical analysis, algorithm implementation, programming from a variety of biotechnology platforms, and oversee quality checks.
• Design and prepare training materials for various bioinformatics software, databases, computing, data mining, and analysis.
• Act as a liaison between end‑users, software developers, system designers, and different departments.
• Establish protocols or best practices for common research tasks and SOPs, evaluate products and solutions to make recommendations, and integrate solutions.
• Lead the development, implementation, installation, and maintenance of databases; coordinate data collection and usage, and related hardware and software.
• Develop programs to assist in the analysis of data within the databases.
• Assist in planning, coordinating, and organizing projects across departments, delegating tasks based on priority, expertise, and capacity.
• Perform other duties as assigned to meet the goals and objectives of the department and institution.
• Maintain regular and predictable attendance.

• Develop and maintain bioinformatics pipelines for TCR and BCR repertoire sequencing.
• Perform and oversee data QC, statistical analysis, and interpret repertoire datasets.
• Integrate immune repertoire data with clinical metadata and other multi‑omics datasets.
• Document and maintain workflows and databases to ensure reproducibility, scalability, and long‑term data and code reuse.
• Support infectious disease and host‑microbe interaction studies, with emphasis on B cell responses and antibody discovery.
• Support immuno‑oncology projects, including analysis of tumor‑infiltrating lymphocytes and integration with tumor genomic and clinical data.
• Collaborate with investigators and serve as a technical liaison between wet‑lab, clinical, and computational teams.
• Contribute to continuous improvement and expansion of TIRTL analytical capabilities.

• Experience with immune repertoire analysis (BCR and/or TCR).
• Familiarity with tools and methods for BCR clonotyping, somatic hypermutation analysis, lineage reconstruction, or antigen‑driven selection.
• Background in cancer immunology, infectious disease, or antibody discovery.

• Bachelor's degree in bioinformatics, cheminformatics, statistics/computer science (with a background in biological sciences or chemistry) or related field.
• Master's degree or PhD preferred.

• Minimum Requirement:
  Bachelor's degree with 6+ years of relevant post‑degree work in bioinformatics, cheminformatics, statistics/computer science (with a background in biological sciences or chemistry).
• Experience Exception:
  Master's degree with 4+ years of relevant post‑degree experience (or) PhD with no experience.
• Experience in at least one programming or scripting language and at least one statistical package, with R preferred.
• Significant experience in at least one programming or scripting language and at least one statistical package, with python/R preferred.
• Strong experience with high‑throughput sequencing data analysis.
• Experience with Linux, HPC environments, version control and workflow systems.

In recognition of certain U.S. state and municipal pay transparency laws, St. Jude is including a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role: $86,320 – $154,960 per year.

St. Jude is an Equal Opportunity Employer.