Job Description- Bioinformatics Scientist
Texas A&M AgriLife Genomics and Bioinformatics Service has an opening for Bioinformatics Scientists. This is a critical research position, the successful candidate will develop and deploy bioinformatics tools to aid the plant breeding programs across Texas A&M AgriLife. The position requires a significant bioinformatics experience focused on next generation sequencing, with a strong educational background in programming, statistics, and genetics. The position will focus on development of tools for the analysis of genotyping-by-sequencing data, and genotype to phenotype predictive modeling in plants.
Education, Skills and qualifications
- Ph.D. in bioinformatics, computational biology, plant breeding & genetics, or a closely related discipline
- Working knowledge of quantitative, population and mendelian genetics.
- Prior experience working in plant breeding or genetics.
- Significant bioinformatics experience using command-line tools in analyzing next-generation sequencing data, including data quality control, alignment, assembly, annotation, etc.
- Strong understanding of current next generation sequencing technologies
- Proficiency in at least one of the compiled programming languages
- Expert proficiency in scripting languages: Python, Unix Shell – AWK, sed, etc.
- Experience with statistical programming language R. Familiarity with Bioconductor, especially common NGS packages.
- Strong statistical background. Experience with GWAS, QTL mapping, generalized linear models and linear mixed models would be preferable.
Major responsibilities
- Performing genotype-by-sequence and population analysis.
- Developing new bioinformatics tools for marker-assisted-selection
- Pursuing external funding with plant breeding teams across AgriLife.
- Providing consultations/training to the faculty/researchers/students
- The candidate shall be a member of and participate in the Center for Bioinformatics and Genomics Systems Engineering (CBGSE).