英国布里斯托大学生物信息学博士后岗位

Institution

University of Bristol

Position

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Location

Bristol, UK

Date Posted

February 19th 2008

Date Expires

March 14th 2008

Description

Postdoctoral Research Associate (reference 13779)

A thirty-month position is available immediately to join a Wellcome Trust funded international multidisciplinary collaboration to develop computationally intensive statistical methodology to analyze bacterial evolution.

New sequencing technology allows complete genome sequences to be determined for hundreds or even thousands of bacteria from the same species. The aim of the project is to develop tools to analyze this new data in order to understand how bacteria evolve and to relate genetic variation to important bacterial phenotypes such as drug-resistance and pathogenicity. The project builds on existing software (ClonalFrame and Mauve) and involves both statisticians (Peter Green) and statistical geneticists (Daniel Falush, Xavier Didelot and Aaron Darling) and will involve interacting with various producers of bacterial sequence data including Julian Parkhill at the Sanger Institute.

You will develop statistical tools to (1) characterise the origins of DNA imports and the pattern of DNA exchange in bacteria, and (2) understand the fitness interactions between different adaptations to particular environments. The post would suit either statisticians who wish to move into statistical genetics, or biologists with a strong quantitative aptitude who wish to learn cutting-edge statistical methodology. Advantageous qualifications include: (1) knowledge of MCMC or similar techniques, (2) good programming skills, (3) a good publication record, (4) knowledge or interest in evolutionary genetics.

The statistics group in Bristol is one of the very strongest in the UK. There are currently 17 faculty, 8 postdocs and 25 graduate research students, with interests ranging across core methodology and key application areas. The group is involved in many interdisciplinary collaborations, across the University and outside, and there is much activity in cognate groups including the Centres for Complexity Science and for Multilevel Modelling, the Department of Social Medicine, AI in Engineering, and the Heilbronn Institute.

Contact

http://www.bristol.ac.uk