Bioinformatician (EBI01657)

The Gene Expression Team analyses expression data sets at tissue or single cell level and develops Expression Atlas, a resource that provides information about the expression of genes and proteins in different cells, tissues, developmental stages and conditions.

Your role
We are looking to appoint a highly motivated Bioinformatician to test and extend our processing pipelines for cell type annotation of single-cell genomics data.

Recent advances in the area of single cell genomics have facilitated the possibility of generating a Human Cell Atlas (HCA), where cutting-edge molecular biology techniques can be used to refine our understanding of cell types within the human body, thereby building a platform for future transformative research in understanding tissue homeostasis and, ultimately, disease.

You will generate production-quality processing pipelines for single cell transcriptomics data and meta-data. Specifically, you will evaluate and build on methods for marker gene identification and predicted annotation. Currently used tools, including SCMAP2, CellTypist, will be applied in conjunction with literature text-mining and functional enrichment.

The successful candidate will:
-Extend our processing pipelines for cell type annotation.
-Validate and discover cell types within datasets in Single Cell Expression Atlas.
-Collaborating with other members of the team, web developers, bioinformaticians and curators to adapt these pipelines into Expression Atlas' data production pipelines.
-Write user guides and presentations describing their work.

You have
You should hold a BSc or MSc degree in bioinformatics or computer science. You have experience working in a Unix-based environment, good programming skills, excellent Unix shell scripting skills. Previous experience in working in a continuous deployment environment with source control and management of releases and in gene expression data analysis is highly desirable.

You might also have
Experience working in large scientific projects, setting up and running computational analyses on cloud-based environments would be an advantage.

Why join us
At EMBL-EBI, we help scientists realise the potential of ‘big data’ in biology by enabling them to exploit complex information to make discoveries that benefit mankind. Working for EMBL-EBI gives you an opportunity to apply your skills and energy for the greater good. As part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), we are a non-profit, intergovernmental organisation funded by over 27 member states and two associate member states. We are located on the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge in the UK, and our 850 staff are engineers, technicians, scientists and other professionals from all over the world.

EMBL is an inclusive, equal opportunity employer offering attractive conditions and benefits appropriate to an international research organisation.

We have an informal culture, international working environment and excellent professional development opportunities but one of the really amazing things about us is the concentration of technical and scientific expertise – something you probably won’t find anywhere else.

If you’ve ever visited the campus you’ll have experienced first-hand our friendly, collegial and supportive atmosphere, set in the beautiful Cambridgeshire countryside. Our staff also enjoy excellent sports facilities including a gym, a free shuttle bus, an on-site nursery, cafés and restaurant and a library.

What else you need to know
To apply please submit a covering letter and CV through our online system. We have adapted our recruitment processes to ensure the safety of our staff and our candidates, you can read more on what you can expect here: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/about/jobs/recruitment-covid19/

Applications are welcome from all nationalities and this will continue after Brexit. For more information please see our website. Visa information will be discussed in more depth with applicants selected for interview.

EMBL-EBI is committed to achieving gender balance and strongly encourages applications from women, who are currently under-represented at all levels. Appointment will be based on merit alone.

Applications will close at 23:00 BST on the date listed above.

This position is limited to one year.