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Postdoc Single-cell Transcriptomics : Leuven, Belgium
VIB is a non-profit research institute in life sciences. About 1,400 scientists conduct strategic basic research on the molecular mechanisms that are responsible for the functioning of the human body, plants, and microorganisms. Through a close partnership with four Flemish universities − UGent, KU Leuven, University of Antwerp, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel − and a solid funding program, VIB unites the forces of 74 research groups in a single institute. The goal of the research is to extend the boundaries of our knowledge of life. Through its technology transfer activities, VIB translates research results into products for the benefit of consumers and patients and contributes to new economic activity. VIB develops and disseminates a wide range of scientifically substantiated information about all aspects of biotechnology. More information: www.vib.be
Description
The VIB Center for the Biology of disease is looking to recruit a bioinformatics specialist to start in October 2015.
Background
To date, populations of cells have usually been treated as a homogenous entity. However, it is becoming increasingly obvious that there is considerable transcriptional variability, even between neighboring cells, both in healthy and diseased tissue. Emerging single cell technology now makes it possible to assess the transcriptional landscape of individual cells in a complex tissue.
The project
The VIB Center for the Biology of disease has a strong interest in cell-to-cell heterogeneity, both in the context of neurodegenerative disease and cancer. A common step in the data analysis of any given single cell experiment is to cluster the observed expression profiles to identify cellular subtypes. This postdoc position will focus on the functional, in-silico, analysis of tentative subtypes. Results of such analyses will improve the biological understanding of the system, as well as assist in improving methodology around cluster identification.
Within the Department (or closely associated with) are a number of groups running single cell projects, related to tumor heterogeneity (lab of Chris Marine) and to neurodegeneration (Matthew Holt and Bart De Strooper), as well as groups that are more involved in a methodology (labs of Thierry Voet and Stein Aerts). This postdoc will play an important role in improving the in-silico analysis of single cell transcriptome experiments, in close collaboration with all teams, stimulating interactions between bioinformatics, technology development, and biological applications. The position will be embedded in the Laboratory of Computational Biology (LCB) of Prof. Stein Aerts.
Profile
- Candidates must have, or expect to obtain, a PhD in bioinformatics and have prior experience analyzing RNA-seq data in a heterogeneous system.
- Candidates are expected to be open to collaboration, both within VIB as well as internationally.
- Strong working knowledge of statistics is essential.
- Candidates should be competent in data analysis, preferably using languages such as python or R, and in working on Unix based systems.
- Finally, the candidate should be interested in the application of single cell transcriptomics in the context of human disease.
We offer
The position is for 2 years and subject to renewal. We offer a competitive salary and benefits.
How to apply?
The links that are in our job ad, can be put in between brackets (e.g.: Laboratory of Computational Biology (LCB) = Laboratory of Computational Biology (LCB) (http://gbiomed.kuleuven.be/english/research/50000622/lcb/) …
Don't forget to mention Naturejobs when applying
Job details
Employer:VIB
Website:http://www.vib.be/en/Pages/de...
Location:Leuven, Belgium
Expires:September 22, 2015
Job type:Postdoctoral
Salary:Unspecified
Qualifications:Postgraduate - Doctorate/PhD
Employment type:Contract
Job hours:Full-time