Job description
This is an exciting opportunity to join an interdisciplinary team of King’s College London scientists working on a funded MRC programme using human induced pluripotent stem cells as tools to understand the influence of natural genetic variation on HIV replication and identifying genes and networks that regulate HIV infection.  
 
The postdoc will work under the supervision of Dr. Alessandra Vigilante and Professor Michael Malim and play a key role in  setting up an innovative inter-disciplinary strategy able to analyse different omics data sets and integrate them with phenotypic data. The project will employ state of the art genomics, statistical and bioinformatics approaches to discover novel human cell factors and pathways that regulate HIV-1 replication. 
 
We look for an ambitious candidate with established expertise in bioinformatics, specifically dealing with large omics data sets and data integration. S/he will have solid programming skills, expert knowledge of scripting languages such as R and/or Python and proficiency in working on high-performance Linux clusters. 
Interested candidates should get in touch with Alessandra Vigilante (alessandra.vigilante@kcl.ac.uk) for further information.  
 
About the Faculty: 
 King’s College London Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine is one of the largest and most successful centres for research and education in the UK. It consists of over 2000 staff and 5000 students within seven Schools and two Schools of Education. 
Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine (CSCRM) Department: (  https://www.kcl.ac.uk/bmb/our-departments/centre-for-stem-cells-regenerative-medicine) 
CSCRM is located on the Guy’s Hospital Campus in central London. It acts as a nucleus for vibrant research community spanning the entire University and the NHS Foundation Trusts of King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. The goal of CSCRM is to bring together researchers with diverse skill sets and a common interest in elucidating the extrinsic and intrinsic signals that regulate stem cell behaviour. 
Infectious Diseases Department: (  https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sims/our-departments/department-of-infectious-diseases/department-of-infectious-diseases) 
The Infectious Diseases Department comprises a multi-disciplinary team developing fundamental knowledge n areas that include HIV/AIDS, SARS-CoV-2, Ebola virus, Influenza virus, viral vectors, Shigella and drug-resistant microbes. Research programmes withing the Dept use state-of-the-art molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry and bioinformatic technologies to develop innovative processes of diagnostics, prevention and treatment. The Dept is embedded within an environment notable for its strengths in immunology and inflammation biology as well as the translation of scientific discovery into the clinical arena 
 
This post will be offered on  a fixed-term contract until 31 Dec 2024 
This is a full-time  post - 100% full time equivalent

Key responsibilities 

• Data and statistical analysis using existing tools and custom scripts/pipelines  
• Create pipelines to process, analyse and integrate multiple omics datasets and cell biology data. 
• Analyze and interpret data 
• Apply statistical approaches 
• Provide guidance to support students who may be assisting with the research 
• Support the team and contribute to the research Programme with data-driven decisions
• Keep an excellent record of analysis
• Prepare and present data to colleagues and other scientists
• Contribute to the production of research reports

 
The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.  
 
Skills, knowledge, and experience 
 
Essential criteria  
 
1.       PhD degree 
2.       Experience with the analysis and the interpretation of high-throughput sequencing data  
3.       Experience with dataset integration 
4.       Understanding of both science and informatics 
5.       Good knowledge of statistics 
6.       Expert knowledge of a scripting language (Perl or Python) and R
7.       Proficiency in working on high-performance Linux clusters (including bash scripting)
8.       Excellent record keeping and attention to details 
9.       Self-motivate, enthusiastic and problem-solving attitude  
10.   Good oral and written communication skills 
11.   Good presentation skills 
 
Desirable criteria
 

1. Experience integrating different datasets 
2. Strong motivation and team spirit
3. General knowledge in biology, strong interest in solving biological questions related to “omics” technologies using computational approaches

 
 
* Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.