Bioinformatics PhD Fellowship (Tromsø,Norway): Data mining and pathway reconstruction

Supervisors
Prof. Nils Peder Willassens (nils-peder.willassen[at]fagmed.uit.no)
Associate Professor Peik Haugen (peik.haugen[at]fagmed.uit.no)
University of Tromsø – Norway, Protein Research Group (Http://cold.imb.fm.uit.no),
Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Institute Of Medical Biology
Dr. Jacob Köhler
Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK / University of Tromsø (20%) (jacob.koehler[at]bbsrc.ac.uk)

DESCRIPTION:
The successful candidate will do research on developing data mining and graph analysis methods using ONDEX http://ondex.sf.net which is written in Java. The methods to be developed are generic and generally applicable. However, they will be tested and applied to explore communication between bacteria, also known as quorum sensing (QS), including (1) reconstruction of metabolic pathways, (2) prediction of new pathways / networks and (3) analysis of microarray data.

We anticipate that the successful candidate will have a MSc degree in computer science or bioinformatics. The focus of the project will be on developing the algorithms, software and analysis methods, which will require well-developed programming skills.

LOCALE

You will be based on campus (located a few kilometres from downtown Tromsø) at the Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø. Our research group currently consists of 10 PhD students and 4 post docs, and you will be part of a growing Bioinformatics team that will complement the wetlab work of the QS project.

The project is done in collaboration with many national and international partners, and the candidate will work in close collaboration with other Bioinformaticians, namely Dr Jacob Köhler and Prof. Dr. Chris Rawlings (Rothamsted Research, UK), and Prof. Dr. Ralf Hofestädt (Bielefeld University, Germany). Research visits to our partners will be required.

TRAINING:
This project will offer training in two key areas – data mining and graph analysis. Furthermore, you will develop excellent software development skills using a range of methods (algorithm development, requirement analysis, Unit testing etc), programming languages (Java, PHP, SQL, shell scripting etc) and tools (Eclipse, software versioning systems and release management, UML). As a result, you will develop a high level of expertise in all aspects of software development.

FUNDING:
The PhD fellowship is for 4 years, with 25% of the time dedicated to teaching. Salary is 320 000 NOK (€37 000).

HOW TO APPLY:
Please go to the following link (http://jobb.jobbnorge.no/visstilling2.aspx?stillid=34556&lang=EN) to apply, or contact us for more information or help with submitting the application. Application deadline is January 29th 2007.

Prof. Nils Peder Willassens (nils-peder.willassen[at]fagmed.uit.no) or Associate Professor Peik Haugen (peik.haugen[at]fagmed.uit.no).