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Computational Biologist I

Employer
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Location
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
May 26, 2021

View more

Sector
Academic / Research
Field
Informatics / GIS
Discipline
Modeling
Salary Type
Salary
Employment Type
Full time
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute seeks a Computational Biologist, under the Department of Medical Oncology to work as a data scientist on the analysis of new datasets generated in the context of multiple clinically oriented cancer sequencing projects in order help advance efforts for precision cancer medicine.

The qualified candidate will develop and support data processing and analysis tools, create new algorithms for emerging clinically focused needs, maintain datasets and databases, integrate tools and databases into existing high-throughput pipelines, and facilitate the display and the distribution of processed data.

Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute brings together world renowned clinicians, innovative researchers and dedicated professionals, allies in the common mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS and related diseases. Combining extremely talented people with the best technologies in a genuinely positive environment, we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all ages; we conduct research that advances treatment; we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers; we reach out to underserved members of our community; and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.

Requirements

Related projects and responsibilities will include:

Studies of cancer risk and heritability using patient-derived data
Studies of clinically derived samples for germline variation and clinical outcomes
Studies of machine learning approaches to assess performance for clinically focused analyses

These projects are collaborative efforts between the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Broad Institute, and multiple other institutions. The goals of this initiative consist of analyzing sequencing data to determine the effects of genomic alterations and expression changes on clinical behavior, both retrospectively and prospectively.

These new data could help identify novel approaches for personalized care in oncology. In addition, this data may provide support for new methods in clinical decision-making, biomarkers for rational drug development, and new insights into tumor biology through innovative analyses.

The person hired for this position will join the team in this effort, and will participate in the design and implementation of algorithms to analyze the data and integrate with other data sets including clinical outcomes data.

This person will also help with the generation of tools needed for manipulating and preparing data for display; transferring data to external collaborators and data repositories; and will also help maintain, support, and document shared tools, code base, and data sets. As the software infrastructure evolves, this position is likely to present diverse and flexible opportunities - from deeper and more complex software design problems, to becoming more involved in the bioinformatic and analytic aspects of predictive modeling.

Qualifications

A B.S. or M.S. in bioinformatics, mathematical, physical, or computer science, or comparable research experience, together with significant experience in computer programming and computational biological applications.
A strong background in statistics and biology. Experience managing and curating large datasets and with machine learning techniques desired.
Excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to perform both self-directed and guided research are required.
Must demonstrate outstanding personal initiative and the ability to work effectively as part of a team.
Ability to meet deadlines and efficiently multitask is a must.
Excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to effectively collaborate across a range of knowledge (e.g. effective communication with software developers and physicians).
Experience in R and/or Python is preferred, with willingness to learn new languages and tools as the field grows (e.g. Github, Docker, WDL, etc).

ADDITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:

Programming experience including but not limited to: R, Python, etc.
New languages are required to be learned as field evolves.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is an equal opportunity employer and affirms the right of every qualified applicant to receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, ancestry, military service, protected veteran status, or other groups as protected by law.

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