Computational biologist (m/f/d)

The Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin is Germany’s premier wildlife research institute, one of seven research institutes in the Forschungsverbund Berlin e. V., a member of the Leibniz Association and jointly funded by the German federal and state governments. The IZW is part of the Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE) project funded by the Horizon Europe Program and leads the work package Genomes Node Development, which aims to support the establishment of the European Reference Genomes Atlas (ERGA, https://www.erga-biodiversity.eu ) consortium, the European branch of the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP). BGE-ERGA aims to build European capacity for the large-scale production of reference genomes for applications in biodiversity genomics endeavours across Europe.

In its Department of Evolutionary Genetics in connection with the Berlin Center for Genomics in Biodiversity Research (BeGenDiv), the IZW is seeking (for the period of September 1st, 2022 until August 31st, 2025) to appoint a

Computational biologist (m/f/d)

We seek a highly motivated scientist to support the development and implementation of genome. Assembly algorithms and pipelines to be used in the BGE project and other reference genome projects associated with ERGA via third-party funds. The person appointed to the position will work closely with members from two ERGA Scientific committees: Sequencing and Assembly (SAC) and IT and infrastructure (ITIC). The person will also be part of and interact closely with members from the BGE work package Genome Data & Data infrastructure, contributing to the assembly, curation and submission of genomes. The person will also participate in assembly discussion groups connected to ERGA through the Earth Biogenome Project (EBP) and seek to establish additional connections with other assembly experts around the world.

Specific tasks include

• Help coordinate ERGA activities regarding genome assembly production and R&D
• Support in implementing genome assembly algorithms, workflows, and pipelines in different platforms accessible to ERGA members, such as Galaxy
• Support to the ERGA Sequencing & Assembly committee on testing assembly tools and recommended SOPs
• Supervision of genome assembly performed by ERGA members responsible for assembly of genomes under the ERGA umbrella
• Be part of the team evaluating and recommending improvements in ERGA genome assemblies
• Become part of the Assembly group organized by the EBP, Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP) and Telomer-to-Telomer (T2T) consortium with active participation
• Beta tester for assembly and curation tools seen as potentially interesting for the ERGA community

Requirements

• PhD in Bioinformatics, Computer Science, or related areas
• Good knowledge of English (able to work in English, written and spoken)
• Prior experience with the assembly of chromosome-level genomes of Eukaryotes, including troubleshooting and quality control
• Experience in genome assembly curation and genome analysis is highly desirable
• Interest and ability to work with a diverse community of scientists
• Proficiency in using different platforms for Bioinformatics analysis, including high-performance computing
• Good programming skills, ideally with experience in workflow-oriented languages (e.g. Python Snakemake, Nextflow, etc.)
• Previous coding experience with Galaxy (https://usegalaxy.org/) is a plus
• Good interpersonal and communication skills

The place of work is BeGenDiv, at the Botanical Museum, Königin-Luise-Straße 6-8, Berlin. The position is initially limited to 36 months. Working hours comprise 39 hours per week (100 %), with salary according to TVöD (Bund). As a member of the Leibniz Association the IZW is an equal opportunity employer, determined to increase the proportion of women in successful scientific careers, and particularly encourages women to apply. Preference will be given to disabled applicants with the same qualifications. Enquiries or questions should be directed to Dr. Camila Mazzoni (030/838-59961, mazzoni(at)izw-berlin.de ).

Please upload complete application documents a letter of motivation, CV, copies of relevant degrees, list of publications and names and contact details of two referees as soon as possible but no later than July 31st via the IZW’s (www.leibniz-izw.de ) online job-application facility (button “Apply online”). Interviews will take place in August, 2022.

We are looking forward to your application!