Postdoctoral Research Fellow – statistical metagenomics - University of Technology Sydney

The ithree institute is one of Australia’s premiere infectious disease research institutes, with dozens of research-focused academic staff and access to leading-edge laboratory technology. The institute operates next-generation sequencing facilities (Illumina) and real-time USB-stick DNA sequencing devices (Oxford Nanopore), in addition to proteomics and super-resolution microscope facilities. Computing facilities include SSD-accelerated parallel filesystems, GPU, and large memory model compute clusters. External supercompute and OpenStack-based cloud computing facilities are also available (INTERSECT and NeCTAR).

This role will be associated with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical & Statistical Frontiers, offering a peer group of applied & mathematical statisticians and regular seminars, journal clubs, and other forums for academic interaction.

Purpose of the role:

The Postdoctoral Research Associate has a key role in executing and promoting data-intensive research with application to genomics and microbiology. In collaboration with A/Prof. Aaron Darling you will develop a new line of research that leads to academic publications, presentations at national and international conferences, and mentoring of students.

Main duties/responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and publish new statistical methodology applicable to genomic data streams and other streaming data types.
• Implement statistical inference algorithms in a programming language such as Python, R, or Java.
• Employ reproducible research techniques such as knitr and github; use structured code documentation.
• Communicate research results through presentation at national and international conferences and online via blog posts and social media.
• Train students and/or collaborators in the use of newly developed methods, to analyse datasets from microbial communities, cancer, and disease outbreaks.

Main skills/experience required:

• Demonstrated capacity to work independently and manage time
• Data science skills including one or more of Bayesian Inference, streaming data analysis, and Monte Carlo methods
• Biological domain knowledge or a high level of interest in one of: phylogenetic inference, metagenomic assembly, population genomics, genotyping for microbial communities or cancer

Apply by 21st of June 2015 via the UTS Recruitment web site, job reference number IRC64670