Working title:

BIOINFORMATICS SCIENTIST

Official title:

ASSOCIATE SCIENTIST(E10FN) OR ASSISTANT SCIENTIST(E10LN)

Degree and area of specialization:

Ph.D. in Bioinformatics or a related field, including biological sciences, statistics, computer science, mathematics or physical sciences.

Minimum number of years and type of relevant work experience:

Three years of bioinformatics experience, including thesis work, post-doctoral and/or professional experience. The most important skills for this position include knowledge of molecular and cellular biology, bioinformatics analysis tools and databases, statistical analysis techniques, programming in R or another statistical programming language, scripting languages such as Perl, Python or Ruby, and knowledge of basic principles of relational database design and SQL. Independence and creativity, as well as strong teamwork and communication skills, are also essential. 

The following experience and skills will be a plus: 
- Biological sequence analysis, especially with "next-generation" sequencing technologies 
- "Omics" and HTS data processing and analysis 
- Systems biology, e.g. pathways, ontologies, computational cell biology, pathway and whole cell simulation 
- Plant and/or microbial biology 
- LIMS 
- Computer skills: Linux, MySQL, C/C++, Java, web development techniques

Principal duties:

The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) is housed at the University of Wisconsin and partners with Michigan State University along with other academic, private sector and national laboratories. The GLBRC is one of three Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers (BRC) to conduct fundamental, genomics-based research on microbial and plant systems required to realize the national need for low-cost biofuels. 

The long-term goals of the GLBRC are to improve: characteristics of biomass plants, procedures for processing plant biomass, biological or chemical processes to convert biomass into energy products, and economic and environmental sustainability of the biomass to biofuel pipeline. To achieve these goals, the GLBRC is combining biological, physical, and computational approaches to resolve currently limiting factors in biofuel production. Imaging, high-throughput genomic, proteomic or metabolomic technologies, synthetic biology, and computational modeling will be vertically integrated into GLBRC research activities.

The incumbent will work with Center scientists to identify and define the needs for analysis of laboratory experiments and provide optimal computational solutions that address biological or chemical processes to convert biomass into energy products. Actively participate in design of biological experiments and use computational tools to develop and perform analyses they require. Extract, process and analyze various types of large-scale biological data, such as gene expression profiling, proteomics and sequencing. Provide value-added annotation to public and private data sets for development of in-house data repositories. Prototype scientific databases, analytical applications and user interfaces. Integrate existing computational tools into analytical workflows. Function as an internal consultant to GLBRC scientists assisting them in custom data analysis. Identify research problems, design research methodologies and prepare results for presentation or publication. Collaborate with other bioinformaticians, programmers, LIMS developers and IT personnel.

Additional Information:

A criminal background check may be conducted on finalist(s).