Researcher of Statistical Genomics

Updated: over 2 years ago
Job Type: FullTime
Deadline: 01 Nov 2021

Do you want to contribute to highly innovative medical research?

The Estonian Genome Centre seeks to hire an experienced researcher in statistical genomics to join research projects in psychiatric genetics & pharmacogenetics at the Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu. The main goal of the research activities is to improve the understanding of the role of genetic variation on causes and consequences of diseases and drug response, thereby contributing to the implementation of personalized medicine in Estonia and globally. Our current focus is on psychiatric disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and treatment outcomes, incl. side-effects of medicines. We are currently investigating the effects of rare and common genetic variants on diseases, their comorbidities, and drug response. For example, to define how biobank participants respond to treatment, we are mining their electronic health records (EHR) for adverse drug reaction diagnoses, discontinuation of treatment, or drug switching as proxies for inappropriate drug response. We are also exploring the effect of genetic variants in known and potential drug targets.
The research will be part of several large collaborative projects, including EU funded projects called CoMorMent (Predicting comorbid cardiovascular disease in individuals with mental disorder by decoding disease mechanisms) and REALMENT (Using real-world big data from eHealth, biobanks and national registries, integrated with clinical trial data to improve outcome of severe mental disorders), as well as our own research projects (PRG184 Role of Rare and Common Genetic Variants in Adverse Drug Reactions, Development of My Health Study for data collection and feedback of personalized health information).
Additional information about the group and ongoing projects can be found at https://genomics.ut.ee/en/research/estonian-genome-centre

Your mission

We seek an experienced and enthusiastic statistician to join our team. We have a wealth of genetic and longitudinal health data from 200,000 biobank participants, which includes over 10 years of health records on diseases, medications, medical procedures and full free-text records that are currently being explored and structured for our research purposes. We need a professional statistician or data scientist to maximize the utility of the available data, and to identify new associations that could help improve future health care. The candidate should be enthusiastic about advancing knowledge on the genetics and comorbidities of psychiatric and cardiovascular disorders, and how different medications affect the occurrence and progression of these disorders. The successful applicant who joins our team will work both independently and with our collaborators to conduct research on the genomics of psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular disease by in depth analysis of different layers of health and genomics data, and combining these with publicly available functional genomics data, to make new discoveries that could ultimately improve people’s lives.

Requirements of professional experience
• Ability to participate in organising research, development and creative (RDC) activities in human genomics.
• Internationally recognised professional research, the volume of which so far is equivalent to that of at least one doctoral thesis.
• Proven experience with GWAS genome-wide association analyses and list of relevant publications where the candidate has performed such studies.
• Previous experience with performing statistical analysis on health data (e.g. electronic health records) and estimating disease risks.
• Previous experience with analysing genetics of quantitative traits.
• Advanced skills in at least one programming language (R, Python, etc.).
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English are required, along with experience with scientific writing.

Duties:
Research, development and creative RDC activities
• Participation in RDC activities under the supervision of a professor or associate professor
• Internationally recognised research in five years at least in the volume equivalent to that of 1.5 doctoral thesis.
• Development of skills necessary for RDC activities, and professional development.
Teaching and activities related to the administration and development of teaching, up to 20% of working time
• Teaching, using modern teaching methods and educational technology, primarily supervising BSc and MSc students, but also PhD students.
• Professional development to enhance teaching and supervising skills.
Participation in the governance and institutional development of the university and social and public activities, up to 10% of working time
• Participation in the work of the university’s decision-making bodies is recommended.
• Outreach and science popularisation.

What do we offer?
A creative and inspiring environment full of expertise and curiosity. By joining our team, you will work with top scientist in the area of human genomics and pharmacogenetics, and participate in designing and implementing personalised medicine in Estonia.
Location: Tartu, Estonia.
An employment application must contain the following documents in English or Estonian:
• An application addressed to the Rector of University of Tartu (including preferred work load, teaching experiences)
• A complete resume, including date of the thesis defence, title of the thesis, previous academic positions, academic title, current position, academic distinctions, and committee work
• A complete list of publications
• A copy of the diploma and the addendums. University is entitled to ask for a ENIC/NARIC to confirm the qualification.
• Other material the applicant finds relevant.

Welcome to apply here:
https://www.ut.ee/en/welcome/job-offer/research-fellow-statistical-genom...
Type of employment – permanent position
Contract type - Full time (part-time option available upon agreement)
First day of employment - According to agreement, preferably 2 January 2022
Salary - Monthly salary
Number of positions 2
Working hours 100%
City – Tartu (partial home office available upon agreement)
Country - Estonia

Published 1 October 2021
Last application date 1 November 2021 11:59 PM EEST



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