EDIT: Applications have now closed for this position and applicants are being evaluated
Human Genetics Scientist
Athletigen - Halifax, NS
Athletigen is a sports genetics startup that aims to discover how people do amazing things. We have a core scientific team with extensive knowledge of human genetics and its widespread effects on different athletic and non-athletic traits. Our goal is to become the biggest and best sports genetics company. We will offer extensive personalized training tools based on genetics and simultaneously build an engaged community of athletes, coaches, and scientists.
As a Human Genetics Scientist at Athletigen you will join a fast-paced and creative team in building a personalized genomics product people will love. A major part of our platform is generating content for our web application by mining genetics research papers for markers that affect athletic performance, human physiology, and other relevant traits. Your primary role will be to identify candidate markers and associated scientific literature that provide the best information to our users. You will then engage in translating scientific information into useful content for users in collaboration with other team members. As part of the Athletigen Scientific Team you also may be engaged in research collaborations with outside partners, engage in internal research, be involved in scientific publications, and participate in other content writing for end users.
Requirements:
The person we're seeking would have the following make-up:
- Education: PhD (Preferred), MSc with 1+ years of additional research experience and relevant publications may be considered
- Strong background in human genetics research
- Ability to synthesize information from research papers to critically evaluate the best candidate markers
- Team player with experience supervising people and projects
- Clear thinker with strong organizational skills
- Experience with tools required to search for and discover relevant research papers
- Experience with citation management software such as zotero, papers, sente, etc.
- Strong writing skills with the ability to neatly summarize and structure information from studies
- Ability to communicate intelligently and clearly
- Some experience with bioinformatic programming and program use are preferred but not required.
- Familiarity with public resources and databases such as Ensembl, dbSNP, the 1000 Genomes Project, HapMap, etc
Ideal Candidate
You will have extensive experience in human genetics and be excited about using your knowledge to develop a product that provides value to people. You have a strong interest in reading the broader scientific literature (including areas outside of your direct expertise) and be able to critically evaluate and summarize published research. You have some experience supervising people and projects. You demonstrate the organizational and management skills that make magic happen within teams. You are familiar with current methods in human genetics research such as GWAS and other genotype-phenotype association methods such as human whole-genome or whole-exome sequencing. An understanding of how biochemical processes influence physiology and physical performance would be an asset, as would some experience with basic bioinformatic programming (parsing text files with scripts in perl, python, etc).
To be a part of the Athletigen team, any applicants must have a strong work ethic and be self-motivated. The ability to manage time effectively and complete tasks independently is a must. We are seeking team players who can complete tasks in an independent manner but will also seek guidance and advice from fellow team members when required and in a timely fashion. The ideal candidate will be living in, or willing to relocate to, Halifax but remote work may be considered for the right individual. Individuals without a PhD but who possess an MSc and appropriate research experience may be considered.
Hours
Full-time @ Athletigen HQ in downtown Halifax, N.S.
Contact: Please send a resume and cover letter or drop into our office at Volta Labs on 5415 Spring Garden Rd. Halifax, N.S.
