Job Description

Application closing date: 11/09/2023
Salary: \xc2\xa337,099 - \xc2\xa340,521 per annum
Job category/type: Research

The School of Medicine, Dentistry & Biomedical Sciences (MDBS) at Queen\'s University Belfast, is currently seeking to appoint an exceptional candidate to the post of Research Fellow. The successful candidate will join the multi-disciplinary Prostate Cancer genomics and radiation biology team led by Dr\'s Simon McDade, Melissa LaBonte-Wilson and Prof Suneil Jain.

This prestigious \xe2\x80\x9cBPCC genomics and bioinformatics fellow\xe2\x80\x9d post, has been funded as part of the philanthropically funded Belfast Prostate Cancer Centre (BPCC) in the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research (PGJCCR) at Queen\'s University Belfast. Where they will not only contribute to the substantial ongoing research programme building on datasets from lab and clinical studies developed as part of the ongoing FastMan PCUK-Movember Prostate Cancer Centre of Excellence (CoE), a joint research programme with the CRUK Manchester Institute, the successful candidate will also be expected to develop their own avenues of research toward fellowship and funding applications.

The successful candidate will build and apply novel genomic lab and analysis methods and integration strategies to support research aimed at discovering and validating novel treatment approaches to improve treatment outcomes for men with locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer treated with radiotherapy. This will include applying a range of methodologies for integrative analysis across a range of genomics datatypes including RNA-seq, low pass copy number, targeted DNA panels, single cell and spatial transcriptomics as well as epigenetic profiling (ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq) and CRISPR screens. They will also support artificial intelligence/machine learning efforts to integrate these data modalities with longitudinal clinical, pathological and imaging data including unique digital pathology and radiomics datasets as part of a broader interdisciplinary team.

Working directly within the McDade/Wilson group, they will also provide support for managing genomics data and data-processing and analysis pipelines to enable data interpretation to support research in broader research groups. They will also contribute to teaching and research supervision within the School and will contribute to manuscript and grant writing as appropriate.

The successful candidate must have, and your application should clearly demonstrate you have:

• Obtained or be about to obtain (submitted) a PhD in Biology, Genetics, Bioinformatics or a closely related area.
• Specific, relevant research experience to include:

• Significant experience designing, conducting, managing, and analysing NGS methodologies, technologies, and data (to include lab experience of carrying out a range of NGS assays e.g ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, RNA-seq)
• Significant relevant experience with end-to-end analysis and interpretation of genomic datasets generation and analysis (For example Exomes, genomes, ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, ATAC-seq)
• Experience with downstream analysis and integration and interpretation of multi-omics data
• Experience of working with Linux/UNIX Compute environments (e.g. HPC)
• Experience of programming (PERL, python, R and Shell scripting) and data processing
• Experience utilising Open Source genomics software and packages e.g. Bioconductor and python packages.
• A publication record commensurate with stage of career.

Please note the above are not an exhaustive list. For further information about the role including the essential and desirable criteria please click the Candidate Information link below.

This is a Fixed Term position available from 1 Nov 2023 - 31 Oct 2026. Fixed term contract posts are available for the stated period in the first instance but in particular circumstances may be renewed or made permanent subject to availability of funding.

At Queen\'s our people are at the heart of everything we do. As a staff member you will become part of a vibrant organisational culture, which will provide you with the opportunity to achieve your full potential and enhance your career through a continuous focus on learning and development.

We offer an excellent employment package that includes:

• Great terms & conditions
• Pension schemes
• Flexible working by enabling you to design your working week in collaboration with your manager through a blend of remote and office working
• Family-friendly initiatives
• Career development opportunities
• Support for health & mental wellbeing
• Generous holiday entitlement of 8.4 weeks a year (made up of 23 days annual leave, 10 closure days and 9 bank holidays)

Queen\'s University is committed to promoting equality of opportunity to all. We have created an inclusive culture by establishing staff networks such as (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and International Staff Network) and (LGBTQ+) which help us progress equality.

We also subscribe to Equality Charter Marks such as the Diversity Charter Mark NI in addition to Athena Swan. For further information on our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, please visit: ; and

Informal enquiries may be directed to Ben McCullough at

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