Microbiology and Immunology Bioinformatics Analyst; Research Professional

Job

Location:

Twin Cities

Job Family:
Research

Full/Part Time:
Full-Time

Regular/Temporary:
Regular

Job Code: 9791IF

Employee Class:
Acad Prof and Admin

We are hiring a full-time Bioinformatics Analyst to support research for the Department of Microbiology and Immunology (DMI) at the University of Minnesota. The analyst in this position will conduct cutting-edge bioinformatics analyses in close collaboration with a diverse set of labs within the DMI department. The successful candidate will be part of a growing bioinformatics team within the department.

The candidate will work with researchers in DMI on a variety of basic and translational research projects investigating topics including pathogen detection, microbial comparative genomics, the emergence of drug resistance, and viral immunology. Many of these grant-funded research projects involve novel pathogens (fungal, bacterial, and viral), de novo genome assembly, pangenome analyses, and single-cell transcriptomics, so there is ample opportunity for the analyst to break new ground by exploring novel methods and tools.

The analyst in this position must have excellent communication skills, strong analytical, computational, and life sciences training or experience, and be comfortable working independently and as part of an interdisciplinary research team on diverse projects.

As part of an interdisciplinary team, successful candidates will have the responsibility to:

• 80%:
  Serve as a bioinformatics analyst and developer for research projects for the Department of Microbiology and Immunology (DMI), designing and implementing appropriate informatics workflows.

• 5%:
  Consult with department researchers on advanced experimental design and planning.
• 5%:
  Identify and integrate new, cutting-edge molecular technologies and analysis methods as they become useful for research purposes (e.g., de novo genome assembly, pangenomes and comparative genomics, single cell/nucleus RNA-seq/ATAC-seq, spatial transcriptomics, etc.). Leverage current computational biology benchmarks to build compelling, data-driven business cases for high-impact capital investments and process improvements.
• 10%:
  Spearhead the preparation and presentation of research methods across internal reports, literature reviews, peer-reviewed manuscripts, and professional presentations. Facilitate targeted seminars and workshops for departmental researchers and leaders on bioinformatics applications.

The ideal candidate will have advanced knowledge of next generation sequencing technologies with demonstrated practical experience in developing and carrying out analytical strategies in the context of NGS applications of critical importance to microbiology and immunology research (e.g. variant calling, genome assembly and annotation, metagenomics, bulk and single cell RNA-sequencing, allele-specific expression analysis, bulk and single-cell ATAC-seq, viral discovery, etc.). The candidate will develop, maintain, organize data structures for samples and data backups.

While candidates ideally will have experience in more than one type of bioinformatics analysis, candidates are not expected to have experience in all types of analyses and learning new analysis techniques is part of the role.

• Doctorate in the life sciences, computer science or engineering, or related field. Candidates must have significant bioinformatics experience.
• 3+ years of research experience in genomics, genetics, molecular biology or computational biology.
• Hands-on experience in developing and carrying out data analytical strategies and pipelines for analyzing datasets from high-throughput platforms such as next generation sequencing.
• Proficiency with the Linux shell environment, a programming language (R and/or python), plus currently used tools (e.g. BWA, HISAT2, GATK, Seurat, etc.).
• Must be able to understand and translate life scientist researchers' scientific goals into analytical strategies and process requirements.
• Must be able to function as part of an interactive team while demonstrating self-initiative to achieve the project's goals and the group's mission.
• Ability to critically and independently think
• Excellent oral and written English communication and interpersonal skills.

• Research background in microbiology and/or immunology is highly preferred.
• Significant experience with one or more of the following types of analysis is highly preferred: bulk and single cell transcriptomics, variant calling, genome assembly/annotation and epigenomics.
• Use of reproducible research methods and software version control (e.g. git/Git Hub).
• Advanced statistical, data modeling and machine learning skills.
• Experience using high performance computing (HPC) environments and job scheduling.

The Department of Microbiology and Immunology (DMI) is a basic science department in the University of Minnesota (UMN) School of Medicine. Our faculty focus on the study of microorganism and host interactions and engage in…