The Varley Lab in the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute seeks a candidate for Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Fellowship to contribute to their breast cancer genomics research. As a Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Fellow, the candidate will use their knowledge and skills in computational biology and biostatistics to analyze and interpret data generated from genomics experiments including circulating tumor DNA sequencing, ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and DNA methylation sequencing. Dr. Varley has formal training and a strong publication record in both computational and experimental biology and enjoys mentoring bioinformatics postdoctoral fellows who are interested in expanding their computational skills and contributing to cancer research.

Responsibilities

Candidate undertaking this Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Utah will

• Assist in the design of genomics experiments with proper controls and statistical power.
• Perform Quality Control analyses of next-generation sequencing data.
• Create and modify scripts to parse data generated by high throughput sequencing experiments (e.g. ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, bisulfite sequencing, and targeted gene sequencing).
• Create and maintain databases for data management.
  Implement different statistical methods to identify significant associations, including both parametric and non-parametric methods (e.g. linear regression, robust linear regression, t-test, ANOVA, Kaplan–Meier log-rank test, Cox proportional hazards test, Mann–Whitney U test, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test).
• Create graphs and data visualization strategies that enable interpretation of results.
• Manage the sharing of results and data with collaborators in a cloud-based bioinformatics platform.
• Communicate results and discoveries by presenting in lab meetings, presenting at conferences, and publishing papers.

Minimum Qualifications

• A doctoral degree (PhD, DSc) in Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Computational Biology, Statistics, Computer Science or related field.
• General programming skills, including experience with Unix and a scripting language such as Perl or Python.
• Experience with the R software package.
• Experience with high-performance computing (utilizing a compute cluster with multiple nodes)
• Knowledge of molecular biology.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze and interpret genomics data.
• Demonstrated ability to independently gain new skills and solve problems.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.

The University of Utah is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. As the state’s public flagship institution and top-tier research university, the U is classified by the Carnegie Foundation. The university’s health care system includes four hospitals, including the University of Utah Hospital and Huntsman Cancer Institute, along with twelve community clinics and specialty centers such as the Moran Eye Center.