Research Associate - Genomic Analysis (Data Science Platform)
Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, United States

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub ("CZ Biohub) is an independent nonprofit medical research organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub supports scientific research to cure, prevent or manage disease in our children’s lifetime. Our mission is to understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying disease and to develop new technologies which will lead to actionable diagnostics and effective therapies. We harness the power and possibility of collaboration to drive discovery and set the standard for open, impactful science. For more information, please visit czbiohub.org.

Opportunity

CZ Biohub has been at the forefront of using sequencing technology to understand mechanisms of disease from the cellular level to the population level. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CZ Biohub contributed to the state-wide genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, supported local outbreak investigations using phylogenetic analyses, and identified gene expression signatures of SARS-CoV-2 infections. CZ Biohub will continue to contribute to basic scientific research within infectious diseases and support capacity building locally and internationally.

We are looking for a research associate specialized in genomic analyses and interested in solving problems in infectious disease at various scales. The candidate will work with a multidisciplinary team of scientists to produce multi-dimensional datasets to understand the mechanisms of infection, and work with local and global health partners to support public health and research efforts using metagenomic and whole genome sequencing. The candidate will be part of the data science platform.

Responsibilities

• Work with project leaders and other data scientists from different disciplines to perform relevant genomic analyses, examples include novel pathogen identification, comparison of short-read and long-read sequencing, antimicrobial resistance detection, phylogenetic analysis, and other related analyses.
• Collaborate with project leaders to iterate on analysis specifications.
• Keep up-to-date with novel developments in genomic analyses, share knowledge with others at the organization, and adopt new technologies as appropriate.
• Develop training materials for others to learn bioinformatics skills.
• Present to and write for both technical and general audiences on analysis results, and help develop proposals for future projects.

Requirements

• BSc or MSc in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or other relevant subject areas.
• Experience with next generation sequence data analysis e.g. whole genome sequences, RNA-Seq, and metagenomic sequences with relevant command-line bioinformatics tools for QC/QA, alignment, assembly, variant analysis, and taxonomic assignment. Relevant coursework can count towards experience.
• Proficient at Python or R, programmatic data visualization, Unix shell scripting, code version control systems.
• Demonstrated interest in infectious disease research.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills for general and technical audiences.

Preferred/Desired Qualifications

• Metagenomic sequencing data analysis.
• Nextflow or other workflow managers.
• AWS or other cloud computing.
• Long-read sequence analysis.
• Phylogenetic analysis.
• Experience developing novel methods and pipelines in bioinformatics.

What We Provide

• Resources to disrupt and innovate at the frontiers of our knowledge of biology and disease.
• A collegial and collaborative environment consisting of diverse expertise.
• Existing collaborations within CZ Biohub: Advanced Optical Microscopy, Cell Atlas, Bioengineering, Data Science, Genome Editing, and Infectious Diseases.
• Access to collaborators, resources and facilities at the three partner campuses (UCSF, Berkeley and Stanford) and at partner institutions in the Bay Area and beyond.
• Competitive compensation and benefits commensurate with the experience.

Benefits

We offer a robust benefits program that enables the important work Biohubbers do everyday. Our benefits include healthcare coverage, life and disability insurance, commuter subsidies, family planning services with fertility care, childcare stipend, 401(k) match, flexible time off and a generous parental leave policy. In addition, we honor our commitment to career development and our value of scholarly excellence through regular onsite opportunities to learn from the world's leading scientists.

CZ Biohub is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity of thought, ideas and perspectives. We are committed to cultivating an inclusive organization where all Biohubbers feel inspired and know their work makes an important cont

Job Rewards and Benefits