Senior Bioinformatician

Job Description:

Basic research in life sciences is VIB’s raison d’être. On the one hand, we are pushing the boundaries of what we know about molecular mechanisms and how they rule living organisms such as human beings, animals, plants and microorganisms. On the other, we are creating tangible results for the benefit of society.

Based on a close partnership with four Flemish universities – Ghent University, KU Leuven, University of Antwerp and Vrije Universiteit Brussel – and supported by a solid funding program, VIB unites the expertise of 74 research groups in a single institute.

VIB's technology transfer activities translate research results into new economic ventures which, in time, lead to new products that can be used in medicine, agriculture and other applications.

VIB also engages actively in the public debate on biotechnology by developing and disseminating a wide range of science-based information about all aspects of biotechnology.
More information: www.vib.be

Description

The Translational Immunology Laboratory managed by Dr. Adrian Liston is looking for a skilled and motivated bioinformatician. This internationally recognized research group is embedded in the infrastructure of the VIB and KUL and consists of three major research divisions: the tissue and disease team, the molecular Treg team and the primary immunodeficiency team that unite to understand the factors that influence immune activation and immune tolerance.

The bioinformatician will work closely with all teams to manage and support all next generation sequencing approaches.

Main duties and responsibilities

Develop and use novel computational pipelines for analysis of complex human and rodent research data. The successful candidate will be responsible for design and computational support of NGS experiments, especially RNA-seq, and the construction analytical strategies for interpreting and visualizing multimodalities of large omics datasets. In particular, the successful candidate will develop and maintain computational pipeline for analysis of single cell transcriptome sequencing.

Profile

Excellent communicator with proven ability to work in a collaborative environment. Efficient multitasker that collaborates easily but can work independently. Strong interest in innovative approaches to keep pipelines and technology at cutting edge. Capacity to work at the interface with biologists and clinicians.

• MSc (plus experience) or PhD degree in appropriate scientific or technical discipline (preferably bioinformatics/computational genomics or biology, with formal understanding of basic biological processes)
• Strong programming skills capable of constructing, maintaining and optimizing computational pipelines for analysis of large datasets, particularly single cell RNA-seq. Experience with NGS platforms (including Illumina) and single cell analysis (transcriptome/genome) is highly desirable.
• High throughput computing experience in Unix environments with working knowledge of programming languages such as Java, C/C++, perl and python.
• Experience with retrieving, normalizing and analyzing high-throughput datasets using R packages / Bioconductor, as well as in the visual presentation of biological data from high-throughput experiments.
• Knowledge in statistics applied to NGS data analysis is desirable.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Experience in immunology is a plus, but is not required.

We offer

• A stimulating international research environment
• An exciting research project
• A renewable contract
• Competitive salary and benefits
• Relocation support possible for international applicants

How to apply?