We are currently soliciting applications for computational
postdoctoral fellows to undertake exciting projects in computational
biology/bioinformatics jointly supervised by Dr. Titus Brown
(http://ivory.idyll.org/lab/) and Dr. Fereydoun Hormozdiari
(http://www.hormozdiarilab.org/) at UC Davis.
UC Davis is a world class research institution with a strong genomics
faculty. In addition to being part of Dr. Brown and Dr. Hormazdiari's
labs, the postdoc will be able to participate in Genome Center
activities. Potential collaborators include Megan Dennis, Alex Norde,
and Paul and Randi Hagerman. UC Davis is close to the Bay Area and
there will be opportunities to connect and collaborate with
researchers at Berkeley, Stanford, and UCSF as well.
Davis, CA is an excellent place to live with good food, great schools,
nice weather, non-Bay-Area housing prices, and a bike-friendly
culture.
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The successful candidate will undertake computational method and tool
development for better understanding the contribution of genetic
variation (especially structural variation) on changing the genome
structure. In collaboration with the members of both labs, the
postdoctoral candidate will also be building models for predicting the
changes in gene expression based on variants (especially CNV) and
performing a comparative study of genome structures in multiple
tissues/samples using HiC data.
This opportunity requires developing novel computational algorithms
and machine learning methods to solve emerging biological
problems. The technical expertise needed include strong computational
background to develop novel combinatorial, machine learning (ML) or
statistical inference algorithms, with strong programming capabilities
and a general understanding of the concepts in genomics and genetics.
Candidates are guaranteed funding for two years and will be strongly
encouraged to apply for external funding in the second year of their
postdoc to make a successful transition to independent investigator.
Some of the projects to work on include but are not limited to:
- Computational methods to discover and predict the structural
variations (SV) which will result in significant modification of
genome structure. It is been shown recently that structural variation
which results in modification of TAD (Topologically Associating
Domains) can result in genetic diseases. As part of this project we
are trying to develop methods which would predict which SVs will
result in such a significant modification and potentially build a
method for ranking/scoring SVs based on their pathogenicity in disease
such as autism and cancer.
- Study the effect of SV/CNVs which result in significant changes of
genome structure during (great ape) evolution and associated with
changes in gene expression for each of these species as a result of
such variants.
- Develop computational tools for finding conserved and
significantly differentiated TADs in two more samples (from different
cell types or species) using HiC data, with application to data from
different tissues and/or species.
The start date for this position is flexible, although we hope the
successful candidate can start before Sep 1, 2017.
Suggested candidate background:
- Ph.D. in computer science, computational biology or related fields
- Excellent programming skills in at least one language (C/C++, Java or Python)
- Strong written/oral presentation skills
- Enthusiasm for genomics-related problems
- Knowledge of next-generation sequencing technologies and HiC data is a plus.
Interested candidates should send their CV and a research statement to Fereydoun Hormozdiari (email: fhormozd[at]ucdavis.edu) and Titus Brown (email: ctbrown[at]ucdavis.edu).
We will begin review of applications on Feb 1, 2017.
There are comments.