Research Assistant (data curator) – Virtual Metabolic Human Database, School of Medicine, NUI...

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a full-time fixed term position as a Research Assistant (data curator) in the Molecular">http://thielelab.eu/">Molecular Systems Physiology Research group, led by Prof. Ines">https://scholar.google.lu/citations?user=d7jPf4EAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=a... Thiele, at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

This position is funded by European Research Council (ERC) and is available from May 2022, for one year, with the option for extension.

This position is part of the ERC funded project BugTheDrug “Predicting the effects of gut microbiota and diet on an individual’s drug response and safety. The project aims at developingnovel approaches that explicitly account for individual variations in drug response due to environmental influences, in addition to genetic variations. The human gut microbiota metabolises drugs and is modulated by diet, and it exhibits significant variation among individuals. However, the influence of the gut microbiota on drug failure or drug side effects is under-researched. In this project, we will combine whole-body, genome-scale molecular resolution modelling of human metabolism and human gut microbial metabolism with physiological, clinically relevant modelling of drug responses. In the course of the project, two pilot studies on human subjects will be carried out to illustrate that this innovative, versatile computational modelling framework can be used to stratify patients prior to drug prescription and to optimize drug bioavailability through personalized dietary intervention. This project will advance mechanistic understanding of drug-microbiota-diet interactions and their contribution to individual drug responses. Moreover, the project will conceptually and technologically address the demand for novel approaches to the study of individual variability, thereby providing breakthrough support for progress in precision medicine.

The Virtual Metabolic Human (https://vmh.life ) is a newly created resource that contains the most recent version of Recon, the global reconstruction of the human metabolic network, a gut microbiota resource of more than 800 reconstructions, information for more than 250 diseases and their connections with the human reconstruction, a gene-phenotype map for Leigh Syndrome to be used by clinicians, visualization of metabolic networks with ReconMaps, and a nutrition resource that allows researchers to model the metabolic effect of different diets. We are continuously expanding the database content and its links to biomedical and clinical information. The VMH targets researchers from all life science domains, including metabolomics, microbiome, and systems biomedicine.

Noronha et al, “The">https://scholar.google.lu/scholar?oi=bibs&cluster=163065517808222907... Virtual Metabolic Human database: integrating human and gut microbiome metabolism with nutrition and disease”, Nucleic Acid Research, D1, 2019.

Job Description:

The successful candidate will expand and broaden the information content covered by the VMH database.

Duties:

• Maintain, expand, and improve the information content of the VMH database with particular focus on human and microbial metabolism.


• Research in primary and review peer-reviewed publications information required for broadening the metabolic coverage of the VMH.


• Identify novel data resources that could be connected to the VMH, in line with the vision of the VMH being a biomedical and metabolic resource.


• Assist in writing scientific papers, documentations, reports, and grant applications.


• Acquire necessary background knowledge on the metabolic reconstructions. 


• Interact with national and international collaborators to ensure progress on the VMH content development.


• Participate at outreach activities, workshops, and tutorials demonstrating the VMH.


• Assist in maintenance of the group’s reconstruction and simulation result analysis.

Qualifications/Skills required:

Essential Requirements:

• BSc or MSc in Biology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, or related fields.


• Demonstratable knowledge in extracting metabolic and biological data from primary and review literature and databases.


• Demonstratable experience in microbial and human metabolism.

• Excellent communication skills are required. Excellent working knowledge of English is required.


• High motivation and interest in interdisciplinary work is required.

Desirable Requirements:

• Experience with biochemical databases is of advantage.


• Experience with Matlab is of advantage.


• Working knowledge of metabolic reconstructions and constraint-based modelling is of advantage.

Salary: €27,380 to €36,786 per annum pro rata for shorter/part-time contracts (public sector pay policy rules pertaining to new entrants will apply).

Start date: Position is available from May 2022

Continuing Professional Development/Training:

Researchers at NUI Galway are encouraged to avail of a range of training and development opportunities designed to support their personal career development plans.  

Further information on research and working at NUI Galway is available on Research">http://www.nuigalway.ie/our-research/">Research at NUI Galway

For information on moving to Ireland please see www.euraxess.ie

">http://www.euraxess.ie/">www.euraxess.ie

Further information about Molecular Systems Physiology Group is available at http://thielelab.eu .

">http://thielelab.eu/">http://thielelab.eu.

To Apply:

Applications to include a covering letter, CV, and the contact details of two referees should be sent, via e-mail (in word or PDF only) to Dr">mailto:[email protected]">Dr . Cyrille Thinnes.

Please put reference number NUIG RES 087-22 in subject line of e-mail application.

Closing date for receipt of applications is 5.00 pm 5th May 2022. 

We reserve the right to re-advertise or extend the closing date for this post. 

National University of Ireland, Galway is an equal opportunities employer.

All positions are recruited in line with Open, Transparent, Merit (OTM) and Competency based recruitment