UWA Medical School

Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research

• This role offers an exciting opportunity to be part of a multi-disciplinary team to analyse poor prognosis cancers using cutting edge spatial profiling.
• Full-time appointment on a two-year fixed term basis
• Level A, base salary range: $80,520 – $108,362 p.a. (pro-rata) plus 17% superannuation
• Based at QEII Medical Centre

About the team

The Forrest Group is a cutting-edge research lab specializing in advanced transcriptome techniques, including single-cell and spatial transcriptomics. Our multi-disciplinary team of molecular, cellular and computational biologists collaborates to unravel complex biological questions in both genomics and cancer research. We are leading the Western Australian Cancer Single Cell initiative which is using single-cell, single-nuclei and spatial transcriptomic profiling to characterize hundreds of tumour samples kindly donated by patients around Perth. We are seeking a talented and motivated Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Researcher to join our dynamic team. The Systems Biology and Genomics lab has a strong focus on analysis of genome-wide datasets to better understand how tumours work as a cellular ecosystem.

About the opportunity

As the appointee, you will, under minimal supervision, perform computational processing and analysis of sequencing datasets, maintain and develop bioinformatics pipelines, interpret results, and contribute to manuscript writing. The primary focus will be on analysing single-cell and spatial transcriptomics datasets, with potential opportunities to work on other datasets, such as Hi-C and bulk RNA-seq.

You should be highly self-driven, with a strong passion for applying computational methods to understand the tumour ecosystem and its interacting cells. Attention to detail and a curiosity to ask questions and design experiments to answer them are essential.

 About you 

• PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Data Science, Computer Science or a related field.
• Strong programming skills, with proficiency in Python, R, or other relevant languages.
• Experience with bioinformatics tools and libraries for genomics analysis (e.g., Seurat, Scanpy, CellRanger, Nextflow, Singularity, Docker).
• Expertise in machine learning techniques and deep learning frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn).
• Demonstrated commitment in participating in high quality research evidenced by peer-reviewed journal articles published in respected scholarly journals.  
• Demonstrated ability to supervise students and research assistants.

About your application

Full details of the position's responsibilities and the selection criteria are outlined in the position description:   Research Associate (Bioinformatics) - Level [A].pdf

The content of your Resume and Cover Letter should demonstrate how you meet the selection criteria.

Closing date: 11:55 PM AWST on Sunday, 1 September 2024

To learn more about this opportunity, please contact Professor Alistair Forrest at alistair.forrest@perkins.uwa.edu.au

This position is open to international applicants.

Application Details: Please apply online via the Apply Now button.

The University of Western Australia (UWA) is ranked among the top 100 universities in the world and a member of the prestigious Australian Group of Eight research intensive universities. With a strong research track record, vibrant campus and working environments, supported by the freedom to innovate and inspire, there is no better time to join Western Australia’s top university.

Our commitment to inclusion and diversity

UWA is committed to a diverse workforce and an equitable and inclusive workplace.  We celebrate difference and believe diversity is fundamental to achieving our goals as a globally recognised Top 100 educational and research institution.  We are committed to creating a safe work environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, the LGBTIQA+ community and people living with disability.

• We have a globally competitive, gender neutral parental leave policy with 26 weeks paid leave after 12 months service and 36 weeks after 5 years.
• We have on-campus childcare facilities for children aged 6 weeks to kindy.
• We facilitate flexible working, with part-time and job-sharing arrangements considered.
• We have an ongoing partnership with Pride in Diversity and were recently awarded a Bronze Employer status for LGBTIQA+ inclusion.
• We have Athena SWAN Bronze accreditation and actively work to improve gender equity. 

Should you have any queries relating to your application, please contact the individual named in the advertisement. Alternatively, contact the Talent team at talent-hr@uwa.edu.au with details of your query. To enable a quick response, please include the 6-digit job reference number and a member of the team will respond to your enquiry.