OPS Bioinformatics Analyst

University of Florida•Gainesville, FL

1d•$25 - $35

About The Position

The Department of Epidemiology is seeking a part-time OPS Bioinformatics Analyst. This position will be responsible for demultiplexing, quality-filtering, and dereplicating raw 16S sequencing reads using QIIME2/DADA2. This individual will compute alpha diversity indices (Shannon, Faith’s PD, Chao1, Simpson), calculate beta diversity (Bray-Curtis, UniFrac), and generate ordination plots (PCoA). This position is key to driving innovative health sciences research throughout the department and will work with a variety of collaborators to collect, analyze and interpret conclusions for data. Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience.
Applicants must be independent, self-motivated, detail-oriented, organized, performance oriented.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Microbiology, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology or a related field.
Prior exposure to clinical microbiome studies, especially longitudinal designs.
Familiarity with R libraries (phyloseq, vegan) and version control (Git).
Proficiency in command-line bioinformatics tools (Python, R, QIIME2).
Experience with 16S workflow, ASV generation, and diversity metrics.

Responsibilities

Data Processing & Pipeline Development Demultiplex, quality-filter, and dereplicate raw 16s sequencing reads using QIIME2/DADA2.
Remove chimeric sequences and generate high-resolution ASVs.
Assign taxonomy with SILVA/Greengenes reference databases.
Diversity & Differential Analyses Compute alpha diversity indices (Shannon, Faith’s PD, Chao1, Simpson).
Calculate beta diversity (Bray-Curtis, UniFrac) and generate ordination plots (PCoA).
Perform differential abundance testing and produce heatmaps, bar charts, and other visual summaries.
Integration & Reporting Merge microbiome metrics with inflammatory biomarkers and clinical data for downstream modeling.
Document pipeline steps, parameter choices, and quality metrics in lab notebooks and version-controlled scripts.
Prepare concise figures and tables for manuscripts and grants.
Collaboration & Communication Attend weekly team meetings to discuss progress and troubleshooting.
Coordinate with Biostatistics Analyst, Graduate Research Assistants, and Faculty to ensure data compatibility and consistency.
Provide training materials to lab members on pipeline usage when needed.