Computational biologist job description

We are seeking an experienced bioinformatician to join our team that develops and maintains a large web-based analysis resource for the infectious disease research community. This resource, known as the Bacterial and Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center (BV-BRC), is funded by the NIH/NIAID. The BV-BRC provides integrated genomic data analysis and visualization tools to the biomedical research community focusing on infectious diseases, including bacteria and viruses. This position is located at Argonne National Laboratory with a joint appointment at the University of Chicago.

The successful candidate applies bioinformatics and machine learning techniques to research problems in the life sciences with an emphasis on using computational approaches for detecting sequence patterns in a variety of contexts including complex microbial community (metagenomic) datasets. The successful candidate also develops and applies computational models on new experimental data, provides measures of uncertainty, and participates in interdisciplinary discussions aimed at the design of new experiments. Problems typically involve the construction of computational models for phenotype and/or class prediction from genomic sequence data and other genomics data. The successful candidate will report on results of research including publishing scholarly papers in scientific journals, giving presentations at conferences, meetings, and seminars, and participates in the preparation of reports and proposals required by funding agencies to obtain and continue funding support.

Master's and 3+ years of experience, or PhD and 0+ years of experience in bioinformatics, computational biology, computer science, or biology, or equivalent
Knowledge of machine learning and/or statistics Knowledge of bioinformatics analysis techniques and tools Experience with NGS data analysis workflows Understanding of computational algorithms to support DNA sequence alignment, small nucleotide polymorphism detection Experience with bacterial genomics and metagenomics (demonstrated work in microbiology preferred) Fluency in Perl or Python preferred Familiarity with the Unix command line environment and commands Analytical and problem-solving skills required Ability to think independently and innovatively to develop exceptional technical solutions required Effective verbal and written communication skills Ability to write research reports and publications Organizational skills and attention to detail Ability to work independently and as part of a team Collaborative skills, including the ability to interact well with external collaborators preferred Ability to model Argonne's Core Values: Impact, Safety, Respect, Integrity, and Teamwork



Job Family

Research Development (RD)


Job Profile

Software Engineering 2


Worker Type

Regular


Time Type

Full time

As an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer, and in accordance with our core values of impact, safety, respect, integrity and teamwork, Argonne National Laboratory is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace that fosters collaborative scientific discovery and innovation. In support of this commitment, Argonne encourages minorities, women, veterans and individuals with disabilities to apply for employment. Argonne considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship status, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Argonne employees, and certain guest researchers and contractors, are subject to particular restrictions related to participation in Foreign Government Sponsored or Affiliated Activities, as defined and detailed in United States Department of Energy Order 486.1A. You will be asked to disclose any such participation in the application phase for review by Argonne's Legal Department.

All Argonne offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes an assessment of criminal conviction history conducted on an individualized and case-by-case basis. Please be advised that Argonne positions require upon hire (or may require in the future) for the individual be to obtain a government access authorization that involves additional background check requirements. Failure to obtain or maintain such government access authorization could result in the withdrawal of a job offer or future termination of employment.

Please note that all Argonne employees are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. All successful applicants will be required to provide their COVID-19 vaccination verification as a condition of employment, subject to limited legally recognized exemptions to COVID-19 vaccination.

Why Join Intellia?

Our mission is to develop curative genome editing treatments that can positively transform the lives of people living with severe and life-threatening diseases.

Beyond our science, we live our four core values: One, Explore, Disrupt, Deliver and feel strongly that you can achieve more at Intellia. We have a single-minded determination to excel and succeed together. We believe in the power of curiosity and pushing boundaries. We welcome challenging thoughts and imagination to develop innovative solutions. And we know that patients are counting on us to make the promise a reality, so we must maintain high standards and get it done.

We want all of our people to go beyond what is possible. We aren't constrained by typical end rails, and we aren't out to just "treat" people. We're all in this for something more. We're driven to cure and motivated for change. Just imagine the possibilities of what we can do together.

How you will Achieve More with Intellia:

We are looking to hire a Computational Biologist to support the development of CRISPR/Cas9 based therapeutics for therapeutic applications. You will play a critical role in building and maintaining an informatics platform for the analysis of NGS data. Additional role responsibilities include:

• Develop and maintain analysis pipelines to analyze Illumina NGS and third generation sequencing data.
• Apply rigorous statistical methods to drive actionable insights from large scale datasets.
• Collaborate with a diverse team of experimentalists, computational scientists, and clinicians to address key therapeutic questions in a data-centic manner.

About You:

Our ideal candidate will have a BS/MS in Bioinformatics or related field, with industry experience or Ph.D. in Computational Biology/Bioinformatics or related field. You should be able to write clear and effective code in Python or R and execute them in the Linux environment. Additionally, if you are familiar with one of the more low-level languages, such as C/C++, Rust, Java/Scala, that's even better. Experience working with NGS data analysis, such as whole genome/exome sequencing, bulk or single-cell RNA-Seq, is also required. If you have experience with cloud computing or Docker, we encourage you to apply!

Meet your future team:

This is an excellent opportunity to join a growing team of informatics in a highly collaborative organization. This position reports to a Director of Computational Scientist. The Informatics team at Intellia is a group of bioinformatician and software engineers with diverse background. You will have the opportunity to learn a broad range of technologies from bioinformatics pipeline and algorithm development, data visualization to web development and machine learning.

Our team is based in Cambridge, MA, and hope that you are in the Cambridge area or willing to relocate. If you decide to join us, you can expect to become a highly valued member of a hardworking and collaborative team. We look forward to fostering your skills, learning from your experiences, and building a larger team together to impact patients' lives.

#LI-KO1

Covid-19 Vaccination Policy: All Intellia employees, regardless of work location, must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. This requirement includes a booster dose once eligible. Requests for exemption for medical or sincerely held religious beliefs will be considered.

EEOC Statement: Intellia believes in a diverse environment, and is committed to equal employment opportunity for all its employees and qualified applicants. We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or any other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. Intellia will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities, in accordance with applicable law.

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe's growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.

As a Computational Biologist in our Enzymes & Gene Clusters group, you'll support Ginkgo's organism engineering programs by identifying enzymes (for both known and totally novel functions), as well as gene clusters, to design heterologous pathways. Plus, you'll help to expand Ginkgo's genetic engineering platform with the development of novel computational tools to predict functional properties of enzymes and pathways. By adding your own expertise to an interdisciplinary team of bench scientists, computational biologists, data scientists, and software engineers, your role will be critical to developing world-changing methods for engineering biology.

Please note: we recognize that not all candidates may meet the entire list of Desired Experience and Capabilities below. We're eager to train the right candidates for this role, and encourage those who meet at least two thirds of the criteria to apply.
Notes on applying:
We look forward to hearing from you. Within the application, please plan to include:
* A cover letter describing a little about yourself, your prior work, your career goals, and what makes you interested in joining our team
* A résumé or curriculum vitae
* A sample of your code: a GitHub profile, if you have one, is preferred. Otherwise, attached files are okay.

#LI-RB1
ResponsibilitiesSupport Ginkgo's organism engineering teams with your technical expertise in enzymes & gene clusters, designing megabases of DNA for each project Design high-throughput experiments that leverage Ginkgo's Foundry, with the goals of resolving difficult biological obstacles and uncovering new design principles Collaborate with stakeholders throughout Ginkgo to create next-generation synthetic biology tools - e.g. algorithms, data structures, predictive models, software pipelines, or experimental approaches - that yield step changes in our ability to predict properties of functions and enzymes, and engineer biological systems accordingly Troubleshoot technically complex design problems, and propose solutions or experimental plans to resolve or correct for them Maintain high-quality documentation of your work and discoveries, in the forms of written reports, technical presentations, electronic lab notebooks, internal database records, code comments, and software documentation
Desired Capabilities and Experience PhD (or BS +5 years professional experience) in enzymology, structural biology, genetics, genomics, computational biology, natural products, quantitative biology, or similar field; interdisciplinary work is strongly encouraged2+ years of professional experience (can overlap with grad school or equivalent professional knowledge) with experience in recombinant DNA technology and vector design for one or more bacterial, yeast, or filamentous fungal species; wet lab experience is a plus Proficiency with at least one software programming language (Python preferred). Knowledge of best practices for collaborative software development (version control systems, test-driven development, and good documentation habits) is preferred First-hand technical experience in at least two of the following disciplines: bioinformatics, sequence analysis, comparative genomics, genome assembly & annotation, statistics, probabilistic modeling, machine learning, or quantitative modeling of biological systems Demonstrated ability to meet the demands of multiple concurrent projects, and work efficiently in a fast-paced, high-growth environment Strong curiosity for, and comfort working in, areas of biology previously unknown to you (and, at times, unknown to your peers)
To learn more about Ginkgo, visit www.ginkgobioworks.com/press/ or check out some curated press below:
What is it really like to take your company public via a SPAC? One Boston biotech shares its journey (Fortune)
Ginkgo Bioworks resizes the definition of going big in biotech, raising $2.5B in a record SPAC deal that weighs in with a whopping $15B-plus valuation (Endpoints News)
Ginkgo Bioworks CEO on scaling up Covid-19 testing: ‘If we try, we can win' (CNBC)
Ginkgo raises $70 million to ramp up COVID-19 testing for employers, universities (Boston Globe)
Ginkgo Bioworks Redirects Its Biotech Platform to Coronavirus (Wall Street Journal)
Ginkgo Bioworks Provides Support on Process Optimization to Moderna for COVID-19 Response (PRNewswire)
The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing (Forbes)
Synthetic Bio Pioneer Ginkgo Raises $290 Million in New Funding (Bloomberg)
Ginkgo Bioworks raises $350 million fund for biotech spinouts (Reuters)
Can This Company Convince You to Love GMOs? (The Atlantic)

We also feel that it's important to point out the obvious here - there's a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.

We're developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can - and will - impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it's something we'll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it's critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.

It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants.