Scientific Biocurator

The Protein Function development team provides the bioinformatics infrastructure for the world leading Universal Protein Resource (UniProt), Gene Ontology Annotation and Enzyme resource. The team comprises talented and enthusiastic software engineers and bioinformaticians working closely together with the biocurators in these resources. GlyGen is an international project funded by The National Institutes of Health to facilitate glycoscience research by integrating diverse kinds of information, including glycomics, genomics, proteomics (and glycoproteomics), cell biology, developmental biology and biochemistry. The applicant will be working with the GlyGen Consortium in the annotation of glycan data into chemistry databases.

Your role:
We are looking for a scientific database curator to work on GlyGen glycobiology annotation project integrating glycan data in resources like the Chemical Entities of Biological Interest ChEBI. The successful applicant will lead the chemical entity annotation for the GlyGen international project within the Protein Function development team.

This involves:
- The integration of GlyGen glycans into CheEBI and PubChem
- The development of a procedure for mapping glycans to the GlyTouCan, CheEBI and PubChem resources as well as to develop a common chemistry format to represent glycans
- The representation of this GlyGen project in meetings, the creation of slides, reports and publication of scientific outputs
- The design of procedures for integrating and cross-linking GlyGen data into protein and pathway resources at EMBL-EBI

You have:
The successful applicant should hold a degree in Biochemistry/Chemistry and ideally several years’ professional experience working in chemistry databases.
Knowledge of formal chemistry ontologies would be a definite plus as well as any computational skills such as SQL. You are a self-motivated candidate with good communication skills and ambition to work in an international field. Advanced English language and excellent interpersonal skills are required.

You might also have:
Experience in the Glycobiology field

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 20 member states and associate member states.

We are located on the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge in the UK, and our 600 staff are engineers, technicians, scientists and other professionals from all over the world.

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 view a copy of the full job description please visit our website.

This is a six month position, which could be up to a maximum of 12 months fixed term position.