Early Career or Mid-Career Principal Investigator

OICR•Toronto, ON

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) is seeking an Early Career or Mid-Career Principal Investigator (PI) in Computational Biology to conduct world-class cancer research. This role is ideal for individuals at any career stage, including those looking to establish their first research lab. The Computational Biology Program focuses on developing and applying data analysis techniques to advance OICR's strategic goals in early cancer detection and interception. The program aims to enhance expertise in areas such as cancer genomics, statistical genetics, next-generation sequence analysis, biological knowledge bases, and pathway/network analysis. Particular interest lies in research that complements these fields, including the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning for digital histopathology, genomic variant effect prediction, drug target identification, and modeling cancer evolution. The PI will be responsible for mentoring trainees, fostering collaborations within and outside OICR, and working with OICR's commercialization partner, FACIT, to translate research into practical products and services. In addition to institutional support for salary and core personnel, the PI is expected to secure external research funding. OICR will provide assistance in obtaining a faculty appointment at the University of Toronto or a similar affiliated institution. The Computational Biology Program, part of OICR's Adaptive Oncology theme, offers a stimulating research environment with investigators utilizing technologies from spatial 'omics to large language models of clinical records. Advanced computational resources, including a ~9,000 CPU thread cluster, 18 GPU servers with 36 NVIDIA CUDA cards, and a large OpenStack virtualization environment, are available for analysis. Further compute resources are accessible through Canada's Digital Research Alliance. OICR is a multidisciplinary, team-science-driven translational research institute with PIs engaged in areas such as medical imaging, robotics, drug design, biomarker discovery, spatial biology, and genomics. Beyond the Computational Biology Program's facilities, the candidate will have access to technology platforms for large-scale molecular data generation, including whole genome sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and proteomics, cell-free DNA analysis, long-read sequencing, and digital histopathology. OICR manages extensive biobanks with hundreds of thousands of specimens and operates data-rich biological databases. OICR is also a host institution for the Global Alliance for Genomics in Health and a co-developer of the Pan-Canadian Genome Library. The institute supports open-source development and is a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

Requirements

A PhD or MD with a proven track record in computational biology, bioinformatics, or biostatistics.
International recognition and a strong publication record of relevance.
Proven leadership and management experience including the building of strong research teams.
A strong record of grant-funding and mentorship.
Excellent communication and presentation skills.
A covering letter, including the names of three potential referees.
A complete academic CV.
A two to four page proposed research document, including a section highlighting relevance of the proposed studies to cancer.

Responsibilities

Undertake world-class cancer research in Computational Biology.
Develop and apply data analysis approaches to advance OICR’s strategic priority on early cancer detection and interception.
Strengthen and expand expertise in cancer genomics, statistical genetics, next-generation sequence analysis, biological knowledge bases, and pathway/network analysis.
Conduct research in areas such as applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning (e.g. for digital histopathology, genomic variant effect prediction, drug target identification or the accurate prediction of genetic and chemical perturbations of biological pathways), and modelling and interpreting cancer evolution.
Mentor trainees.
Build collaborations both within and outside the OICR community.
Work with FACIT, OICR's commercialization partner, to translate research findings into real-world products and services.
Raise additional research funds from external competitive granting agencies.
Assist in obtaining a faculty appointment at the University of Toronto or another affiliated academic institution.