Postdoctoral position in data-driven infection biology
Umeå universitet, Medicinska fakulteten
Umeå University is one of Sweden’s largest higher education institutions with over 37 000 students and about 4 700 employees. The University offers a diversity of high-quality education and world-leading research in several fields. And the groundbreaking discovery of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, which was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was made here. At Umeå University, everything is close. Our cohesive campuses make it easy to meet, work together and exchange knowledge, which promotes a dynamic and open culture.
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The Faculty of Medicine, which consists of 13 departments, is responsible for biomedical research and courses in the field of nursing and health care and has an extensive research and graduate education in more than 80 subjects.
We are looking for one to two postdocs.
A fully funded, two-year postdoc position is immediately available in the Department of Clinical Microbiology at Umeå University. The position is open to computational scientists with an interest in microbial (meta)genomic data analysis.
Application deadline 23 April 2023
Description of the project
Data-driven discovery of novel microbial secondary metabolites involved in host-microbe and/or microbe-microbe interactions
Work responsibilities
Microbes produce a wide array of secondary metabolites (SMs), which allow them to interact with their environment, as well as with each other. The postdoctoral project proposed here will involve developing (meta)genome mining approaches, which can be used to identify novel microbial SMs involved in microbe-host and/or microbe-microbe interactions. The tools developed here will be applied to large amounts of microbial (meta)genomic data, with the goal of identifying microbial SMs responsible for host disease phenotypes (e.g., microbiome-associated cancers) or SMs with novel antimicrobial activities.
Eligibility
A person who has been awarded a doctorate or a foreign qualification deemed to be the equivalent of a doctorate is eligible for appointment as postdoctoral researcher. This eligibility requirement must be met no later than the time at which the appointment decision is made.
Applicants must:
Hold a PhD, preferably in bioinformatics, computational biology, computer science, (bio)statistics, or a related field; candidates from other fields with strong programming/coding skills (see below) are also encouraged to apply.
Be proficient in UNIX shell scripting, plus another relevant language (e.g., Python, R).
Be proficient in written and spoken English.
Be comfortable working in a diverse, inclusive, interdisciplinary, and highly collaborative environment.
Additional useful qualifications
Since appointment as a postdoctoral researcher is a career-development position for junior researchers, we are primarily interested in applicants who completed their doctoral degree no more than three years before the application deadline. If there are special reasons, an applicant who has completed their degree earlier than that may be considered. Special reasons include absence due to illness, parental leave, clinical practice, appointments of trust for a trade union organisation or other similar circumstances, and for relevant duties/assignments within the subject area.
Additionally, applicants might have previous experience:
- Analyzing genomic data
- Developing software
- Computing in HPC environments
- With JavaScript or related languages (e.g., Vega, Shiny)
- In the biological or chemical sciences
More information about the position
We are looking for one to two postdocs. The appointment is a full-time, fixed-term position for two years (minimum two and maximum three years) in accordance with the terms of contract for fixed-term employment as a postdoctoral researcher from 1 February 2022. [LMC1]
The postdoc will be affiliated with the Institutionen för klinisk mikrobiologi.
The position is funded via the SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS; https://www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/), a 12-year initiative aimed at recruiting and training the next generation of data-driven life scientists. The postdoc will be affiliated with the national DDLS program, through which they will have access to computing resources, the national DDLS research school, and other training and networking opportunities.
The postdoc will be further affiliated with the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS; https://www.mims.umu.se/); MIMS is a member of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, which is dedicated to the growing field of life sciences that investigates the molecular basis of disease and explores molecularly and genetically based treatments.
Application
The position is fully funded for two years and starts immediately or as agreed.
The application must include:
- A brief description of your research interests, and a statement describing why you are interested in the position
- A curriculum vitae (CV)
- A list of publications
- A doctoral degree certificate and other relevant degrees
- Contact details of two reference persons
The application must be written in English.
The application must be made via our e-recruitment system Varbi and must be received by April 23, 2023.
For more information, contact Laura Carroll (laura.carroll@umu.se).
Welcome with your application!
Umeå University strives to offer an equal environment where open dialogue between people with different backgrounds and perspectives lay the foundation for learning, creativity and development. We welcome people with different backgrounds and experiences to apply for the current employment.