Research Fellow in Bioinformatics (Metagenomics)

The post holder will be responsible for the analysis of samples for two projects: (i) the role of the lung microbiome in cystic fibrosis (funded by the Medical Research Foundation), focusing on the acquisition and establishment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa chronic infection in young adult, (ii) a clinical study investigating the efficacy and mechanistic action of faecal transplantation (FMT) for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (funded by NIHR).

These studies will generate a diverse range of cutting-edge sequencing techniques including whole-genome shotgun metagenomics, nanopore long-reads and linked “cloud” reads (10X), as well as more traditional 16S amplicon sequencing. The post holder will be responsible for the analysis and integration of such datasets with particular reference to reconstruction of haplotypes in microbial populations. The post holder will contribute to experimental design, data processing, statistical analysis and/or network analysis; to contribute to the wider research aims of the Loman Group; and to undertake independent research in bioinformatics and metagenomics.

• Holds a PhD (or close to being awarded) in Bioinformatics, Genomics, Microbiology, Metagenomics, Maths or Statistics (or equivalent experience)
• Experience in the application of statistical / computational methods to the analysis of microbiome datasets (16S and/or shotgun metagenomics based)
• Experience in the computational handling of high-throughput sequencing data (e.g. alignment and de novo assembly of short- and/or single molecule long read data and haplotype reconstruction)
• Experience in a range of statistical analysis methods, including multivariate and univariate methods.
• Experience in programming in commonly used bioinformatics scripting languages, for example in R, Python, or perl.
• Experience in managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to communicate complex information clearly.
• A high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to work on own initiative, manage time effectively, progress tasks concurrently and work to deadlines.
• Detailed knowledge of office safety.
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively.This post will provide metagenomics data analysis capacity to two funded metagenomics projects in the field of clinical metagenomics.