Senior Research Associate (Enzyme Discovery – Bioinformatics) 828 views

The Faculty of Science, Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI), School of Biological Sciences at University of Portsmouth is inviting applications for a position of Senior Research Associate (Enzyme Discovery – Bioinformatics).

About the position:

• The Senior Research Associate will develop novel bioinformatics approaches to explore microorganisms of interest at the genomic level to identify enzymes and enzymatic processes of interest to the CEI.
• The successful candidate will have recent or ongoing research experience in bioinformatics or a related field; experience working with high-throughput data; sound knowledge of systems-level biological data; and experience of interrogating genomic/proteomic data resources (e.g. NCBI, Ensembl, and UniProt). Experience of DNA/RNA sequencing using Oxford Nanopore, Illumina, or other related platforms would be an advantage, however full training will be provided as required, including the use of the Oxford Nanopore GridION sequencing platform.
• The role holder will work within the Discovery Team of the CEI on bioprospecting to search for novel enzymatic targets from environmental samples to be fed into our enzyme production pathway to generate enzymes capable of offering real-world solutions to global challenges (e.g. recycling of plastic waste), suitable for upscaling for industrial-scale deployment.
• Individual will explore additional bacterial samples and existing genome databases for bacteria with properties of interest (e.g. extremophiles) to identify potential enhancements to novel enzymes through genetic engineering.

Requirements:

• Applicant must hold Postgraduate qualification in bioinformatics or relevant experience and PhD in relevant subject or relevant professional experience (mathematics, physics, engineering, or a related quantitative discipline, genetics, bioinformatics, computational biology or biostatistics)
• Experience working in a high performance computing environment and use of load sharing facilities (e.g. SLURM or LSF)
• Proficiency in bioinformatics and statistical computing and programming/scripting languages (e.g. Python/Biopython, Perl/Bioperl, Java/BioJava/BioJS, Ruby/Bioruby, R/Bioconductor, C/C++, Groovy)
• Experience working with high-throughput biological data (e.g. next generation sequencing data)

How to apply:

Apply online