Research Associate in Bioinformatics and Machine Learning

Vacancy Reference Number

19246BR

Closing Date

1 Dec 2024

Salary

£40,247 - £45,163 per annum

Address

UK DRI at Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF14 4XN

Duration

This post is full-time (35 hours per week) and fixed term until 30.09.2025

Dementia is the biggest health challenge of our century. 

To date there is no way to prevent it or even slow its progression, and there is an urgent need to fill the knowledge gap in our basic understanding of the diseases that cause it.  

The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is the biggest UK initiative driving forward research to fill this gap. 

Rapid advances in DNA technologies and computational biology are enabling scientists to identify more and more of the subtle DNA variations that can influence a person’s risk of developing different neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers at the UK DRI at Cardiff interrogate the host of genetic variations linked with neurodegenerative diseases to make new discoveries about disease processes. They use experimental model systems along with a variety of cutting-edge experimental methods and equipment to dissect the biology of many of these genes. Building on the team’s international reputation for complex data analyses, they develop and apply advanced computational approaches that enable them to make sense of huge datasets generated by complex experiments. 

We have an exciting opportunity to appoint an enthusiastic and experienced Bioinformatician to join Professor Valentina Escott-Price’s research group within the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University.  The post holder will play a leading role in the analysis of large and complex genetic datasets with a range of Machine Learning approaches, whilst leading a broad range of investigative and analytical activities to maximally exploit gene x gene and gene x environment interactions in clinical and genetic data and linking them to an individual risk score with the aim to reveal novel therapeutic targets in dementia. They will help refine inclusion criteria for future clinical trials and ultimately translate into guidance for personalized healthcare decisions. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to take part in cutting-edge research investigating the complex architecture of dementia and related subphenotypes in human data.

In this role, you will work independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary team, to perform self-directed analyses using in house and publicly available datasets for high impact, peer-reviewed publications. Applicants should be knowledgeable and enthusiastic with the ability to multi-task and communicate effectively. Core tasks will include data analysis and management of genetic, genomic and related phenotypic data from dementia case-control and cohort samples, publicly available and in-house generated genomic human data. Collaborative working is a key component of this role meaning that communication skills will be vital, in order to cultivate international collaborations from a number of academic institutions.

Apply here

Further Information

We’d like to hear from you if you have a background in machine learning and biostatistics with proven experience of extensive large-scale data analyses and manipulation, including analysis of genome-wide association studies and genetic interactions. Expert knowledge of data manipulation in a UNIX/Linux environment and proficiency in high level programming languages such as Python and R Statistics is essential. Knowledge of techniques used in genetics and epidemiology, as well as experience in using software used for the analysis of genomic data such as PLINK, LDScore, is desirable.

Contact Details

For informal enquiries please contact Professor Valentina Escott-Price (escottpricev@cardiff.ac.uk).