BACKGROUND:

The Bozdag Lab in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of North Texas (https://biocomp.engineering.unt.edu) has an opening for a postdoctoral scholar to work on NIH-funded research in bioinformatics. Our lab is dedicated to developing integrative computational tools that leverage multi-omics biological and clinical datasets to infer disease-associated genes, regulatory interactions and patient-specific drug response.

The successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary team to work on cutting-edge research projects to develop and apply data mining/machine learning approaches on high dimensional biological and clinical datasets.

The initial appointment is one year with the possibility of renewal based on performance.

The Bozdag Lab's research goal is to develop open source integrative computational tools to analyze high dimensional biological, clinical and environmental exposure datasets to infer context-specific gene regulatory interactions and modules, and to predict disease associated genes and patient-specific drug response. With the advances in high throughput technologies in biology, numerous national and international consortiums have generated a vast amount of genotype, phenotype, gene expression, and epigenetic data (collectively called multi-omics data), which have been made available to the scientific community. Furthermore, ongoing large initiatives such as UK Biobank, Million Records Project, and All of Us research program will bring vast amounts of multi-omics datasets from millions of individuals. Each of these different data modalities (e.g., mRNA expression, DNA methylation, mutation, microRNA (miRNA) expression, and copy number alteration) describes one facet of the underlying biology. Consequently, there is a tremendous need for scalable methods that can integrate different layers of multi-omics datasets across millions of individuals from different backgrounds. These methods would produce valuable insights into human diseases and pave the way for precision medicine. The research program is devoted to developing integrative computational tools utilizing artificial intelligence, machine learning and data mining methods to analyze these multi-omics datasets.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Conduct all aspects of research projects under the mentorship of the Principal Investigator (e.g., data collection, preprocessing, analysis, software development, testing, evaluation, benchmarking, etc.).
• Write manuscripts for publication.
• Contribute to the drafting of grant proposals.
• Present research progress at lab meetings and the individual meetings with the PI.
• Attend conference for oral and poster presentations of research projects.
• Contribute to mentoring and training of graduate and undergraduate students in the lab.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, or closely related field.
• Strong publication record in one or more of the following areas: computational biology/bioinformatics, biomedical informatics, deep learning/machine learning, data mining, biostatistics, or a closely related area.
• Proficiency in software development skills in programming languages such as R and Python.

PREFERENCES:

• Prior research experience in computational biology/bioinformatics/biomedical informatics is preferred. However, strong research experience in developing/applying deep learning/machine learning/data mining/data science methods on other domains/datasets will also be considered.
• Strong communication and scientific writing skills.
• Expertise in software engineering with documentation, version control, and code releases.
• Expertise in Linux and high-performance computing environments.
• Experience in parallel programming (MPI, GPU, etc.).
• Proficiency in biostatistical methods.
• Ability to work independently and in group settings.
• Ability to learn quickly and apply new analytic techniques.

TERMS:

The initial appointment is one year with the possibility of renewal based on performance.

LOCATION:

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX

COMPENSATION:

Commensurate with experience.

HOW TO APPLY:

Submit your application at https://jobs.untsystem.edu/postings/64799

DEADLINE:

Initial review of applications will start on December 1st. Position will be open until it's filled.