Senior Bioinformatics Research Scientist

The Senior Bioinformatics Research Scientist performs data analysis, data visualization, statistical analysis, experimental design, database development, mathematical modeling, and novel method development. Provides bioinformatics analysis for investigators and communicates analytical process and results.

The Center for Applied Bioinformatics (CAB) at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is seeking a highly motivated Senior Bioinformatics Research Scientist to join the Transcriptomics Group. CAB is an institutional shared resource dedicated to providing state-of-the-art bioinformatics services to St. Jude investigators. Our Center collaborates with lab scientists and physician-scientists at multiple stages of their research, from study design, data analysis to preparation for presentations, grant proposals, and co-authoring manuscripts. We uphold the highest level of scientific rigor by carefully vetting and documenting all bioinformatics methods and pipelines.

The successful candidate will develop and apply innovative analytical approaches to analyze & interpret new and existing multi-omic datasets obtained from both clinical and basic research lab, including bulk tumor/normal, single-cell/nucleus, and spatial-omic profiles. These analyses will contribute to understanding the underlying mechanisms driving pediatric cancers and other human diseases.  The candidate will work closely with other bioinformatics personnel within CAB, playing an integral role in exciting research partnerships both within St. Jude and with external collaborators. He/she will contribute to establish the pipelines and best practice to characterize bulk or single cell RNA isoforms and noncoding RNA transcripts with long read sequencing technologies. He/she follows and adheres to best practices in structured transparent project management by tracking progress, identifying roadblocks, and proposing solutions, developing specific milestones for each research goal, and providing informative progress reports and summaries to principal investigators.

The Center provides a highly interactive environment with collaborative opportunities across basic and clinical departments. You'll have access to high performance computing clusters, cloud computing environments, innovative visualization tools, highly automated analytical pipelines, and mentorship from experienced scientists. Members of this Center have the opportunities to publish high profile papers with prominent authorship depending on their intellectual contributions.

The ideal candidate should have:

· A PhD and extensive post-PhD experience in bioinformatics, computational biology, and data science.

· A strong CV that includes high-profile publications in the field of computational biology, cancer genomics, and/or single-cell genomics.

· Experience analyzing some/all the following platforms: whole-genome/exome sequencing, RNA-seq. ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq/CUT&RUN, single-cell/nucleus RNA-seq, CITE-seq,  single cell multiome (ATAC+GEX),  spatial transcriptomics, and long-read sequencing (e.g., PacBio and Oxford Nanopore)

· Proficiency in relevant programming languages such as R and Python, preferably in a High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment.

· Proficiency in tools for ensuring reproducibility of pipelines, such as workflow management systems (e.g., nextflow), and version control (e.g., git).

· Proficiency in tool development, including examples documented in public repositories.

· Extensive expertise in data integration and harmonization.

· Proven problem-solving skills and collaborative nature in fast-paced environment.

· Excellent communication and presentation skills.

Job Responsibilities:

• Provide research support and deliver high-quality results by formulating an efficient analytical approach with the available data.
• Deliver data files, and document the analytical process. May participate in manuscript preparation at project's conclusion.
• Assist with establishing and documenting protocols or best practices for common research tasks, and in the formulation of analytical plans that use the best approach to address challenging data analysis questions.
• Assist in the evaluation and testing of new methods and technologies.
• Contribute ideas to automate or improve existing analysis methods. Implement the improvement or work with others to do so.
• Participate in the department's developmental projects and interdepartmental team projects.
• Perform other duties as assigned to meet the goals and objectives of the department and institution.
• Maintains regular and predictable attendance.

Minimum Education and/or Training:

• Bachelor's degree in bioinformatics, cheminformatics, statistics/computer science (with a background in biological sciences