Bioinformatician/Sr. Bioinformatician, Functional Genomics Computation Unit – Functional Genomi[...]

APPLICATION CLOSING DATE: April 3, 2024 Human Technopole (HT) is an interdisciplinary life science research institute, created and supported by the Italian government, with the aim of developing innovative strategies to improve human health. HT is composed of five centres: Computational Biology, Structural Biology, Genomics, Neurogenomics and Health Data Science. The Centres work together to enable interdisciplinary research and to create an open, collaborative environment that will help promote life science research both nationally and internationally.

Human Technopole is looking for a Bioinformatician for the Functional Genomics Computation UnitintheCentre for Genomics – F unctional Programme.

HT is a new interdisciplinary research institute created and supported by the Italian government, whose aim is to develop innovative strategies to promote biomedical research and human health through a multidisciplinary and integrated approach. The mission of the Centre for Genomics – Functional Programme is to elucidate the function of the human genome in health and disease. The Centre has an important focus on understanding genomic regulation at the sub-cellular and cellular level, and its effect on the development and function at the tissue, organ and whole-organism scale.

We are looking for a Bioinformatician in the Functional Genomics Computation Unit, a new state-of-the-art unit for the analysis of Functional Genomics data deriving from a variety of technologies and approaches. This unit is strongly integrated within the research groups in the Functional Genomics Programme, supporting the data analyses efforts of the groups at all steps of scientific projects, from data generation to publication. The Unit benefits from a large High-Performance Computing and Data Storage infrastructure, and from close interaction with an expert community of computational biologists within the Genomics Centre, other Research Centres, and of core facilities at HT.

The candidate will be responsible for setting up and running state-of-the-art computational workflows for Functional Genomics and will be involved in analysis of key datasets. A key mission will be to ensure the processing and delivery of analysed data for large-scale projects, including through bespoke collaborations with Investigators of the Research Programme and other Research Centres. The candidate will also be expected to contribute to the development of new methods and the rapid standardization and implementation of new computational approaches for emerging technologies. Reproducibility and robustness of bioinformatics analyses, using standardised and modular workflows, will be at the core of this role.

We welcome applications from both senior and junior candidates. Junior candidates will be expected to have familiarity and be comfortable with computational work.

The successful candidate will currently report directly to Dr. Piero Carninci, Head of the Centre for Genomics – Functional Genomics Programme.

Key tasks and responsibilities

The candidate will work within the Functional Genomics Computation Unit, sharing the following tasks and responsibilities:

• Setting up and operating bioinformatics analysis pipelines/libraries to process transcriptomics and Functional Genomics data, using short- and long-read technologies, including but not limited to genomics analysis from bulk, single-cell genomics and multiomics datasets.
• Design, set up and maintain data analysis pipelines and software for genomics analysis downstream of the pipelines (eg. identification and functional annotation of regulatory elements, transcripts, etc; statistical analyses of experimental results; integration of genomic, epigenomic, and other datasets).
• Setting up processing and analysis approaches for novel experimental assays.
• Manage import, storage, and use of external datasets (eg: ENCODE, Human Cell Atlas, FANTOM), including control of appropriate access rights and data annotation.
• Manage storage and maintenance of genetic and genomic datasets produced by the research groups, and curation of data for depositions in public repositories. Data harmonization of genomic resources; curation of metadata of experiments.
• Provide support, training, and supervision to members of the department (students and staff) on scientific computing and Functional Genomics tools and analyses.
• Participate in preparing accessible resources/databases for the community-wide fruition of the data generated within the research programs.
• Support grant applications, project reports and papers on a case-by-case basis.

Essential requirements

• Either a PhD or a Masters-level degree in genomics, computational biology, and/or bioinformatics applied to any area of biology.
• Knowledge of at least one widely-used programming language (e.g. R or Python), and experience working with the Unix command line and high-performance cluster computing.
• Proven experience and skills in computational biology and/or bioinformatics, data processing, and analysis of a diverse range of data types, including large-scale sequencing data.
• Fluency in English – HT is an international research institute.

Preferred requirements

The following skills and experiences are not essential, but would be advantageous:

• Experience in Functional Genomics would be a strong advantage; for example:

o long-read and direct RNA sequencing

o other types of RNA sequencing assays and analyses (e.g. single-cell sequencing, isoform-level analyses, Ribo-seq)

o chromatin-level assays (e.g. HiC, ChIP-seq, ATAQ-seq).

• Advanced experience of reproducible research (eg. git) and/or reproducible software development (eg. R package development) and/or pipeline development (eg. nextflow, snakemake).
• Experience analysing imaging/microscopy data.
• Knowledge and interest in Machine Learning.

Organizational and social skills

• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment and to work independently.
• Strong interpersonal skills demonstrated by the ability to lead and gain the assistance and cooperation of others in a team endeavor. Willingness to train, lead, and mentor colleagues.
• Ability to build trust through operating with transparency and creating an open and positive environment.
• Excellent troubleshooting skills.
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.

Above all, we are looking for a candidate with the willingness to learn, develop and improve their computational skills and Functional Genomics knowledge in tandem with the needs and interests of the research groups in the Centre.

Application Instructions

Please apply by sending:

• a CV
• a motivation letter in English
• names and contacts of at least 2 referees

Questions concerning the role and any queries regarding the terms and conditions should be sent to (this email address should not be used to send applications).

Why Human Technopole

HT seeksscientific excellence. We recruit the best scientific talents through international open calls.

Our working environment isinternational,friendlyandinclusive. Our scientistswork together across disciplineson research topics of biomedical relevance,leveraging synergiesbetween their diverse skill sets and methodological approaches.

We believe thathighly diverse teams yield the best and most innovative results.

We engage inoutward-facing scientific activities for the national and internationalresearch community.Training is also at the heart of our activity, with initiatives and opportunities for our staff, including scientific courses, conferences and workshops.

Main benefits

Welfare plans

Canteen service

Work-life balance provisions

Italian language training for foreigners

Maternity leave up to 1 year and other support for new parents

Counseling

Flexible working hours

Remote working policy

Support for relocation

Number of positions offered: 1

Contract offered: CCNL Chimico Farmaceutico, Fixed-term 3 years - employee level.

The position is based in Milan

Salary range: up to 41 K for Bioinformaticians and up to 48K for Senior Bioinformaticians.

Tax benefits where applicable.