Data Scientist - Houston, United States - MD Anderson Cancer Center

MD Anderson Cancer Center

Verified Company

Houston, United States

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Mark Lane

beBee recruiter

Description

The Johnston Laboratory is an interdisciplinary and highly collaborative team of microbiologists, synthetic biologists, bioinformaticians and engineers.

The long-term goal of our research is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the capabilities of microbes/microbial communities within tumors, elucidate the underlying mechanisms driving their behavior, and utilize this knowledge to engineer innovative therapeutics and advanced microbe-based technologies for cancer prevention and treatment.

To achieve this, we employ cutting-edge bacterial omics techniques (including pangenomics, pan-epigenomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics) to generate hypotheses centered on understanding how specific microbes migrate to, colonize, and persist within human tumors.

We then utilize synthetic microbiology principles to develop genetic systems for these tumor-associated microbes, allowing us to experimentally test and refine our hypotheses using in-vitro and pre-clinical models of disease.

Moreover, using knowledge gained, we aim to harness the innate abilities of microbes to access recalcitrant areas of the tumor microenvironment and engineer them as effective delivery vehicles for therapeutic payloads.

JOB SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES

Supports the maintenance of computational infrastructure and the flow of samples and information for largescale studies.
Interpret complex biological information, conduct statistical and genomic analysis.
Write custom scripts to access databases, perform and evaluate quality control.
Analyze Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) data.
Assist in the development and refinement of data analysis and integration methodology and pipelines.
Develop modular and reusable software for use in basic science research and genomic analysis in a costeffective and efficient manner with limited instruction or guidance.
Engage in bioinformatics literature to ensure the availability of robust methods, resources, and data sources. Work with research collaborators to gather requirements and create processes and

pipelines to meet their research goals.

Excellent written and oral communication skills are required for manuscripts/grants preparation, public presentation, and collaboration with other researchers.
Communicate findings effectively to both technical and nontechnical audiences through presentations, reports, and publications.
Stay current with emerging trends and technologies in the field of genomics and computational biology.

EDUCATION

Required:

Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Science, Engineering, Computer Science, Statistics, Computational Biology, or related field.

Preferred Master's or PhD in in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Science, Engineering, Computer Science, Statistics, Computational Biology, or related field.

EXPERIENCE

Required:
Three years experience in scientific software or industry development/analysis. With Master's degree, one years experience required. With PhD, no experience required.

Experience in software development, data engineering, data science, or related field with a track record of manipulating, processing, and extracting value from large datasets
Extensive experience working with at least one of the following datasets, e.g. whole genome analyses (assembly and annotation tools, Pangenomics), Metagenome analyses (community

compositional assessment and comparisons), epigenome analysis (SMRTseq, ChipSeq, ATACseq - data pipelines)

Proficiency in, at least, one modern scripting or programming language (Python, R, Node, or C++)
Ability to learn new tools and content quickly and independently.
Strong oral and communication skills

Additional Information