Bioinformatics Analyst

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute•Boston, MA

About The Position

The Bandopadhayay Laboratory (www.bandolab.org) based at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute seeks a Bioinformatics Analyst to join in efforts to develop and apply cutting-edge genomic technologies to determine optimal treatment strategies for children with brain tumors. This Bioinformatics Analyst will be co-mentored by our collaborator Dr. Rameen Beroukhim (www.beroukhimlab.org) and will be involved in cross-disciplinary efforts to generate large datasets describing genetic changes across pediatric brain tumors and other cancers, and to develop and apply sophisticated statistical and computational approaches to analyzing these data. These datasets include DNA sequencing, RNA sequencing and epigenetic sequencing, both at bulk and single-cell level. The aim of these efforts will be to characterize mutations that cause pediatric brain tumors and to determine how to treat patients with these cancers. The Bioinformatics Analyst will be involved in cross-disciplinary efforts to generate large datasets describing genetic changes across pediatric brain tumors and other cancers, and to develop and apply sophisticated statistical and computational approaches to analyzing these data. The ideal candidate will have extensive programming ability and a strong background in mathematics and statistics with a deep interest and background in biology. The ability to collaborate closely with other members of a research team is essential.

Requirements

Bachelors degree required, MS preferred or PhD in bioinformatics, computer science and/or the life sciences and 0-2 years relevant experience.
Familiarity with simple programming using Perl/Python or Java, C/C++, statistical programming using R or related tools, web-development, and database query through SQL.
Familiarity with principles of experimental design and modern data analysis paradigms is required.
Strong interpersonal skills – ability to effectively interact with all levels of staff and external contacts.
Excellent analytical, organizational and time management skills.

Responsibilities

Apply existing analytic algorithms to large genomic datasets.
Work with researchers and computational biologists to develop and code new algorithms.
Interact with users and other stakeholders to determine and prioritize requirements.
Interprets complex biological information.
Performs tasks to reduce and consolidate output from software.
Prepares data for utilization by other scientists.
Monitors new data from public databases, finds and loads missed data, cleans loaded data to satisfy quality control criteria.
Must be able to query various sources for the information needed; i.e., the Web, publications and internal DFCI resources.
Directs and guides DNA, RNA and protein sequence database searches and the computational analysis of resulting data.
Implements end-users’ needs in database searching and integration.
Maintains the computational infrastructure and controls the flow of samples and information for large-scale studies.
Recognizes and reports problems with the data management process and fixes the problems whenever possible.