A research position is available in Dr. Vikas Bansal's lab at the University of California San Diego to work on identifying disease-associated mutations in the human genome using large-scale DNA sequencing datasets. This position is suitable for a postdoctoral researcher or a bioinformatician interested in large-scale NGS data analysis and human genetics. The lab is based in the Division of Genome Information Sciences (Department of Pediatrics) in the School of Medicine and focuses on developing computational methods for the detection of genetic variation using highÂ-throughput DNA sequencing technologies and applying these methods to understand the genetic basis of human disease.
The lab has an ongoing project on identifying disease-associated variants in young-onset type 2 diabetes (see recent publications here and here) using large-scale datasets such as the T2D-GENES and UK BioBank, statistical modeling and bioinformatics. A second project aims to leverage novel computational tools for genotyping repetitive sequences in the human genome (see recent publication) to identify disease-associated variants in regions of the human genome (e.g. duplicated genes) that are typically ignored in standard NGS pipelines. The selected candidate is expected to create/maintain pipelines for processing high-throughput DNA sequencing datasets, analyze both internal and public datasets to identify novel genotype-phenotype associations, and prepare manuscripts for publication.
Requirements:
- Masters or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Human Genetics or a related field. Candidates with a Bachelor's degree and several years of experience in Bioinformatics or Human Genetics can also apply.
- Strong demonstrated competence in programming languages such as Python, R or Matlab
- Significant experience working in a Unix/Linux computing environment with large datasets
- Proficiency in scientific writing and communication
Desired skills:
- Significant experience in large-scale data analysis, using bioinformatics tools, and pipeline development
- Experience with statistical analysis and data visualization in R
- Experience with cloud-based computing
Location:
University of California, San Diego is a top-ranked university located in sunny San Diego and offers extensive opportunities for training and collaboration. The candidate will have access to High-Performance Computing resources at the San Diego Supercomputer Center.
Contact information:
To apply, please send an email to Dr. Vikas Bansal at vibansal@ucsd.edu with your CV, contact information for 2-3 references and a brief statement of research experience and interests. More information about the publications and research projects of the lab is available from https://bansal-lab.github.io
