Research Data Analyst - Internal Medicine (Pulmonary)

Department:

SOM KC Internal Medicine - Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

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Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

Position Title:

Research Data Analyst - Internal Medicine (Pulmonary)

Job Family Group:

Professional Staff

Job Description Summary:

The Research Data Analyst in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine provides analytical and technical support for epigenetics research in the Cortese Lab. This position is responsible for managing, processing, and analyzing high-throughput sequencing data to support studies of DNA methylation and disease mechanisms. The role includes executing established analytical workflows, documenting procedures, and ensuring data quality and integrity.

Job Description:

Job Duties:

• Generate, Manage, and Process Epigenomic Data: Support the generation, preprocessing, and quality control of high-throughput sequencing datasets, including Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing (WGBS). Apply knowledge of DNA methylation chemistry and bisulfite conversion while utilizing R or Python (e.g., Bioconductor) and maintaining reproducible workflows with Snakemake or Nextflow and version control (Git).

• Analyze Single-Cell and Multi-Omics Data: Perform analysis of single-cell sequencing datasets (e.g., scRNA-seq) and integrate these with DNA methylation profiles to investigate cell-specific regulatory mechanisms. Use tools such as Seurat or Scanpy and apply dimensionality reduction techniques (e.g., UMAP, PCA) for high-dimensional data analysis.

• Execute Analytical Workflows and Ensure Data Integrity: Run and maintain established bioinformatics pipelines, ensuring accuracy, reproducibility, and consistency of results. Document analytical methods, parameters, and outputs in accordance with best practices.

• Perform Statistical Analysis and Biomarker Identification: Apply statistical inference and machine learning methods to analyze complex genomic datasets and identify epigenetic patterns associated with disease. Utilize public genomic resources such as TCGA, ENCODE, and GEO as appropriate.

• Validate Findings Across Datasets: Assist in validating results across independent cohorts and platforms by implementing robust and reproducible computational workflows.

• Data Visualization and Communication: Generate clear, publication-quality visualizations (e.g., heatmaps, Manhattan plots, UMAPs) and communicate findings to research team members, supporting manuscripts, presentations, and reports.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. It is only a summary of the typical functions of the job, not an exhaustive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks, duties, and assignments. Furthermore, job duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Required Qualifications:

Work Experience:

• Six (6) years of experience in Biostatistics, Statistics, Bioinformatics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computational Biology, or related field. Education may be substituted for experience on a year for year basis.

• Experience on analysis of large epigenomics and single-cell datasets.

Preferred Qualifications:

Education: Master’s degree in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Data Science, or a related quantitative field.

Work Experience:

• Two (2) years’ experience with cloud or high-performance computing environments (AWS, GCP, Azure, or institutional clusters).

• Prior contribution to peer-reviewed publications as evidenced by application materials.

Skills:

• Scientific Communication

• Time Management

• Problem-Solving

Required Documents:

• Resume/CV
• Cover Letter

Comprehensive Benefits Package:

Coverage begins on day one for health, dental, and vision insurance and includes health expense accounts with generous employer contributions if the employee participates in a qualifying health plan. Employer-paid life insurance, long-term disability insurance, and various additional voluntary insurance plans are available. Paid time off, including vacation and sick, begins accruing upon hire, plus ten paid holidays. One paid discretionary day is available after six months of employment, and paid time off for bereavement, jury duty, military service, and parental leave is available after 12 months of employment. A retirement program with a generous employer contribution