Scientist/Sr. Scientist, Computational Biology & Genome Mining

About March Therapeutics (MarchTx):
Spun out of Harvard and MIT, MarchTx aims to revolutionize the discovery and development of novel genetic medicines by pioneering Biomolecular Learning, an evolutionary approach incorporating molecular recording and advanced computing to mine the tree of life for novel protein modalities and optimize them for therapeutic applications.
MarchTx's proprietary molecular recording technologies enable the mapping of genotypes and phenotypes in an ultra-high-throughput manner, giving a holistic view of protein function landscape and the ability to visualize the canvas of evolution. MarchTx leverages this approach to identify therapeutically valuable functions from the natural genetic repertoire and to improve existing genetically-encoded therapeutics, with an immediate focus on programmable genetic medicines.
Position Summary:
MarchTx is looking for a Scientist or Senior Scientist with extensive experience in bioinformatics and computational biology to mine genomics and metagenomics databases and uncover novel protein families with potential use in biotechnology and biomedicine from genomics signatures. The ideal candidate initially works independently and closely with experimental scientists to help discover novel proteins with potential use in the development of the next generation of DNA writing technologies. As the company grows, the Scientist is expected to lead a small team of bioinformaticians (1-2) to expand the company's genome mining operations. In addition, the Scientist will be a driven, enthusiastic, and self-motivated individual who is comfortable multitasking and working independently. The successful candidate will also be comfortable working in a fast-paced and mission-driven yet highly-collaborative environment.
Key Responsibilities:

* Establish a strong foundation for MarchTx's computational biology and genome mining capabilities and serve as a technical domain expert within the company
* Computationally classify genetically-encoded biomolecules (e.g., protein families, structured RNAs, etc.) via various methods, including comparative genomics, gene clustering, and protein sequence-function analyses
* Analyze large genomics and metagenomics databases to identify protein families with known, less-characterized or novel functions
* Develop customized bioinformatics pipelines as needed
* Work closely with bench scientists in discovery team to uncover, assess and verify novel protein functions

Key Qualifications:

* PhD in bioinformatics, comparative genomics, or related discipline with 1-4 years of experience (academic or industry)
* Extensive experience analyzing large genomics and metagenomics databases, implementing gene clustering, and protein sequence-function analysis/prediction and other bioinformatics pipelines
* Solid experience with modern computational tools for genome mining and comparative genome analysis is required
* Proficiency in using computational biology tools/techniques is required
* Understanding of molecular biology and genomics, including evolutionary biology and/or protein structure/function
* Fluency in one or more programming languages (e.g., Python or R) is preferred
* Experience with comparative studies of Cas associated proteins, deaminases, mobile genetic elements, recombinases, or other DNA/RNA modifying enzymes is preferred but not required
* Self-motivated and independent, ability to work and adapt in a fast-paced startup environment
* Ability to work independently while in a team setting, with minimal supervision
* Good biological intuition about protein functions and possible uses of different classes of proteins in biotechnological applications (e.g., gene-editing) is a plus
* Familiar with wet lab techniques is a plus