Bioinformatician (Fixed Term)

Department/Location: Division of Neurology, Central Cambridge

Applications are invited for a talented Bioinformatician in bioinformatics/computational biology to lead an exciting project aiming to shed light on the fundamental biology of neurodegenerative diseases and mitochondrial dysfunction using a single cell data set and functional genomic screens including CRISPR and Perturb-seq. The post holder will join Professor Patrick Chinnery`s research group (Head of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge) which is a world leading team of clinical, laboratory and bioinformatic scientists studying the role of genetic variation in brain ageing and disease. The Chinnery group is housed within the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit on the Cambridge Biomedical campus and also has a translational research team embedded within the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Addenbrooke's hospital. This provides a unique opportunity to gain access to patient cohorts and clinical data alongside leading genomic technologies in the Cambridge cluster. The team publishes high-profile publications including: Nature 2022 PMID36198798; Nature Genetics 2021 PMID34002094; Nature Medicine 2021 PMID34426706; Science 2019 PMID31123110; and Nature Cell Biology 2018 PMID29335530.  

Professor Chinnery's research group is mapping the trajectory of somatic mutations across the brain throughout the life course using state of the art single cell genomics at scale, in health and disease. The post holder will perform the primary analysis of this unique dataset using computational and bioinformatics approaches. It is anticipated that this work could change the understanding of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease by linking developmentally acquired mutations to cell function through single cell RNA sequencing data on a massive scale. The role holder will closely collaborate with computational biologists within the Chinnery group and computer scientists/bioinformaticians hosted by Prof Nick Jones at the Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London. In addition, the post holder will work closely with other bioinformaticians, laboratory and clinical scientists in the University of Cambridge, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and The European Bioinformatics Institute, as well as other bioinformatics teams across the campus. 

The post holder will have the opportunity to work on a range of experimental and publicly available genomic and clinical datasets, including long and short-read whole genome sequencing (e.g. Illumina and Oxford Nanopore sequencing), whole exome sequencing, ultra-high depth DNA and RNA sequencing of the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, single cell DNA-sequence and transcriptomic data, and epigenomic datasets. They will also use state-of-the-art bioinformatics tools for the analysis of sequencing data and, when necessary, develop novel analysis tools. In addition to their own research, there will be opportunities for training and career development.

Post graduate education in computational biology (or a closely related discipline) at PhD level, deep understanding of bioinformatics/computational biology is essential.

For questions relating to the post, please contact Professor Patrick Chinnery: pfc25@medschl.cam.ac.uk

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 2 years in the first instance.

We welcome applications from individuals who wish to be considered for part-time working or other flexible working arrangements.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please visit: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/39224.

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