Bioinformatics Research Associate

Description

Date: June 2024

Title: Bioinformatics Research Associate I, Specialized Technical Skills (STS)

Department: Pathology

School: Medicine

Location: Biomedical Research Building

Supervisor Name and Title: Adam Burgener, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology

 

POSITION OBJECTIVE

The Bioinformatics Research Associate STS (Bioinformatician) will work under the guidance of the Principal Investigator (PI). The Bioinformatician is expected to work independently and provide leadership and management of projects and experiments. The Bioinformatician will design and plan experiments/projects, work with clinical partners and collaborators, carry out research activities of an assigned project through completion, and write or co-write manuscripts for publication. This will include performing high level data analytics of ‘omics and immunology datasets (microbiome, proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, single cell RNA seq, etc.) from our large cohort studies, including survival, regression, univariate, multivariate, and related analyses.  This will also include integration of ‘omics data with other types of patient meta-data including but not limited to clinical data, longitudinal clinical outcomes, questionnaires, registry data, behavior information, etc. The Bioinformatician will work collaboratively with other bioinformatics personnel in the lab but is also expected to work independently.  The incumbent will be expected to present selected data at international meetings with collaborators or conferences.  Other responsibilities of this position will include development/improvement of R-based tools for management of ‘omics data from the lab, the generation of reports to support the aims of grant awards, carry out smaller components of collaborative research projects, assist in the publication of results from other lab members and the development of new hypotheses for grant applications.

 

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

1.       In consultation with the investigator(s) and collaborators, design bioinformatic projects, as well as their hypotheses and analytical needs. Design, manage, and analyze the bioinformatic components of projects and experiments with a high degree of independence.  Provide interpretation of various statistical and spatial/mapping outputs, develop predictions, and make recommendations on study design.  (45%)

2.       Oversee data analytics and statistical analysis for research projects; provide input and recommendation to PI regarding significant development. Lead and perform data analyses including but not limited to survival, regression, univariate, multivariate, machine learning and related analyses. Determine the appropriate computational requirements for the given research project and help design and execute the analysis pipeline. May perform required programming and analysis for multiple research studies as assigned. (5%)

3.       Prepare result summaries. Generate analysis reports including the results and documentation of the pipeline. Apply appropriate statistical methods and/or collaborate with the team to ensure statistical rigor of results. (5%)

4.       Develop and implement tools and workflows to process, analyze and integrate different high throughput data. Assist the PI in and independently develop new techniques and protocols. (10%)

5.       Maintain pipeline. Keep track of current methods for molecular datasets and update pipelines as necessary with version tracking. Document and implement version control for all pipelines. Monitoring of public datasets and databases. Testing novel analysis pipelines and methods. Understand and maintain current knowledge of related databases and analysis tools.  (10%)

6.       Design, code, test, debug, modify and document moderately complex systems requiring knowledge of databases, processes, and scripts. (5%)

7.       Provide supervision, technical guidance and training of staff applying bioinformatics and statistical approaches. Supervise lab members in the design, writing, debugging, testing, and documenting statistical programs using standard statistical software packages, including SAS, R, and spatial analysis software.  May directly supervise research assistants and technicians.  (5%)

8.       Provide data visualization for academic publication and research presentations. Present data and findings at laboratory meetings and scientific meetings, seminars, etc. Prepare manuscripts and contribute data analysis and interpretation for grant proposals. Independently author research projects. (10%)

NONESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

1.    Participate in weekly research meetings and conferences to present data. (3%)

2.    Perform other duties as assigned. (2%)

CONTACTS

Department: Freq