A postdoctoral position is available at the Department of Plant Physiology at Umeå University, which is a part of Umeå Plant Science Centre. The position is funded by the Norway spruce and Scots pine genome project. The employment is full-time for two years in the group of Nathaniel Street. The position start date is by agreement, but the position is immediately available. Last day to apply: 13 September 2023
Duties: The candidate will work with bioinformatics in a joint research environment of the Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå University, and in collaboration with research groups at SciLifeLab (Science for Life Laboratory, National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden (NBIS) and the Norway spruce and Scots pine genome project team.
The work will involve performing analysis of epigenetics data and comparative genomics analyses including of protein coding genes, non-coding RNAs, pseudogenes and repetitive elements (primarily LTRs) in addition to general bioinformatics analysis and support.
There will be an emphasis on the role of chromatin conformation in gene regulation and synteny and comparative expression analyses using RNA-Seq data, which will include the use of co-expression networks. Available project data includes Illumina RNA-Seq, PacBio Iso-Seq, Ribo-Seq, Hi-C, ATAC-Seq and DNA methylation profiling. Duties will include data analysis, result interpretation and writing original research publications.
Qualifications
To be appointed under the postdoctoral agreement, the postdoctoral fellow is required to have completed a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree. This qualification requirements must be fulfilled no later than at the time of the appointment decision.
To be appointed under the postdoctoral agreement, priority should be given to candidates who completed their doctoral degree, according to what is stipulated in the paragraph above, no later than three years prior. If there are special reasons, candidates who completed their doctoral degree prior to that may also be eligible.
Special reasons include absence due to illness, parental leave, appointments of trust in trade union organizations, military service, or similar circumstances, as well as clinical practice or other forms of appointment/assignment relevant to the subject area. Postdoctoral fellows who are to teach or supervise must have taken relevant courses in teaching and learning in higher education.
For this position, it is required that you hold a doctoral degree in bioinformatics, molecular biology, computational biology, plant science or equivalent.
Experience and knowledge in implementing efficient high-performance cluster pipelines is a requirement and you must be competent in job scheduling systems. Experience in scripting (in e.g. python, bash etc.) is required as well as implementation of reproducible pipelines using code sharing platforms (for example Git, which is used extensively in the project). Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, a willingness to learn new skills and to work collaboratively are also essential.
Meriting qualifications would include experience in any of the following: analysis of high throughput sequencing gene expression data, whole genome sequence alignment and synteny analysis, analysis of non-coding RNA and/or pseudogenes including methods for functional annotation, repeat analysis, differential expression analysis, transcript/alternative splicing analysis and co-expression network inference and analysis. Further, skill in R programming for data analysis and visualisation is highly desirable.
Experience in working with plant species, in particular non model species, in particular species with large genomes, is highly desirable. All code developed will be shared publicly and must adhere to transparent and reproducible research principles. Exact details of the analysis to be performed are flexible and can be adjusted to match the qualifications and interest of the selected candidate.
About the Research Environment
The Department of Plant Physiology is part of Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) which is a centre of excellence for experimental plant research and forest biotechnology in Northern Sweden. Our mission is to perform excellent and innovative basic research and generate knowledge that benefits forestry, agriculture, environment and society.
We work across a wide range of disciplines in plant science reaching from cell biology to ecophysiology and from basic research to industrial applications. Our common goal is to understand the plants’ ability to grow, adapt and acclimate to a changing world and how we can breed better plants.
UPSC belongs to two universities, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Umeå University. About 200 people from more than 40 different nationalities work here. We host some 30 principal investigators, and our researchers have access to state-of-the-art analytical platforms, unique tree germplasm resources and plant growth facilities. We strive for a collaborative work environment and support our scientists throughout all career stages by providing professional training opportunities and individual career mentoring.
Umeå has a strong postdoc community organised in the Umeå Postdoc Society (UPS). UPS fosters networking amongst postdocs, organises social and career development events and works towards improving the postdoc experience in Umeå. and do not hesitate to get in contact with them!
Application
The application should contain:
- A Curriculum Vitae.
- A cover letter that must include describing yourself, your previous relevant research achievements, clear links to demonstrated examples of implemented tools and code and reasons for applying to this position (max 2 pages).
- Certified copies of doctoral degree certificate or equivalent, or documentation that clarifies when the degree of doctor is expected to be obtained,
- A list of publications including a link to your PhD thesis.
- Certified copies of grades and degree certificates.
The application must be written in English or Swedish. The application is made through Umeå University’s electronic recruitment system by clicking the button at the bottom of this page: https://www.umu.se/en/work-with-us/open-positions/postdoctoral-researcher-2-years-in-conifer-genomics_653417/. Documents sent electronically must be in Word or PDF format.
Application deadline is 2023-09-13.
Terms of employment The employment is full-time and is limited to two years. Access according to agreement. Contact For more information please contact Prof Nathaniel Street, nathaniel.street@umu.se or +46-(0)70-322 0136.
We look forward to receiving your application!