Computational Biology Job Openings

Overview

Cures Start Here. At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch’s pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nation’s first cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women’s Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Careers Start Here.

The laboratories of Dr. Gavin Ha and Dr. Peter Nelson have a joint postdoctoral research position open in the Computational Biology Program of the Public Health Sciences and Human Biology Divisions. We are seeking a highly motivated individual who is interested in developing and implementing innovative computational and analytical approaches to study the genetics and epigenetics of prostate cancer. Candidates who are excited about large/complex ‘omics’ data analysis of cancer genomes, computational methods development, and translating computational techniques into the clinic are encouraged to apply. The position has a competitive salary with great benefits.

Dr. Nelson is one of the world’s leading experts in prostate cancer research. He is the Director of the Prostate Cancer Research Program at Fred Hutch and Principal Investigator of the Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer SPORE. Dr. Ha is a Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator, V Foundation Scholar, and holds an NCI Transition Career Development Award. His laboratory develops computational approaches to study cancer genomes from tumors and liquid biopsies, such as circulating tumor DNA. See the lab websites for more information: https://research.fhcrc.org/peternelson/en.html and https://gavinhalab.org/.

Responsibilities

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work on transformative and leading-edge research problems in prostate cancer research:

• Analysis of cancer genomes to understand tumor evolution, cell plasticity, metastatic disease, non-coding genome alterations, copy number alterations, genome rearrangements and chromatin organization.
• Development of novel computational algorithms for long-range (linked-reads or long-reads) whole genome sequencing of tumors.
• Development of novel approaches to detect and analyze circulating tumor DNA from cancer patients.
• Analysis of tumor microenvironment and heterogeneity using single-cell RNA sequencing.
• For examples of recent studies, see PMID:29909985, PMID:29109393, PMID:25060187, PMID:29017058

Candidates with strong interest and/or expertise in any of these research areas are highly encouraged to apply

• Cancer genomics, liquid biopsies, tumor evolution/heterogeneity, single-cell transcriptomics
• Application of statistical modeling, algorithm design, machine learning to study cancer and genetics
• Analysis of large, complex genome, epigenome, and transcriptome data

Qualifications

Applicants must have a PhD or MD (or equivalent) with training in one of these disciplines:

• Computational biology, bioinformatics, computer science, data science, statistics, computer/electrical engineering, physics, or other related fields.

Applicants should have some or all of the following skills and experience:

• Work well in team environments, have strong communication/organization skills and is detail-oriented
• Highly motivated individual who think independently but also enjoy working in a dynamic, collaborative, multidisciplinary team
• Strong programming experience (R, Python, Matlab, Java, C/C++, Perl or other languages for research)
• Experience with cancer genome data analysis is considered a strong asset
• A background in cancer biology (especially in prostate) is considered a strong asset.
• Experience with analyzing sequencing data is considered a strong asset
• Experience with high performance computing environments and cloud computing environments is a plus
• Applicants must have a demonstrated publication track record
   

To apply, please submit your application with the following:

• a several paragraph statement of research interests
• CV
• names and email addresses of three references
• two representative publications or preprints (if available)