Postdoctoral Research fellow - Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

About the Role

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented Computational Biologist to join the Translational Lung Immunology group, TIDU, led by Prof Ling-Pei Ho (https://www.imm.ox.ac.uk/research/units-and-centres/mrc-translational-immune-discovery-unit), working on collaborative projects with Dr Agne Antanaviciute and her team in the TIDU Computational Biology Group. The Translational Lung Immunology group studies the immune mechanism of lung injury, regeneration and fibrosis with a focus on discovery of disease pathways and therapeutic targets in tissue-centric studies, and translation to therapeutic utility. This position offers an exciting opportunity to analyse and develop new methods of single cell and spatial data in tissue, and leveraging breakthroughs with in depth understanding of disease mechanisms in lung fibrosis.

Our key projects Centre around understanding the integrative network of immune and structural cells in lung tissue from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and fibrotic pulmonary sarcoidosis, using data from >35 plex imaging mass cytometry and single cell RNA sequencing. We will use spatial information of immune and structural cells using a suite of mathematical algorithms (see Weeratunga P Nat Commun 2023) to help guide the use of single cell transcriptomic in the same tissue.  The work will greatly deepen our understanding of how cellular immune response and functions in both healthy and disease conditions. One goal is to develop advanced clustering, annotation and spatial models to construct a lung tissue map that connects immune cells to relevant structural cells, enhancing mechanistic understanding of the disease.

This is a full time appointment  fixed term for 2 years.

About the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine

The Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (NDM) is one of the largest departments of the University of Oxford and is part of the Medical Sciences Division, with responsibility for a significant part of the teaching of clinical students within the Medical School.

What We Offer

•         Flexible working

•         An excellent contributory pension scheme

•         38 days’ annual leave (including bank holidays)

•         A comprehensive range of childcare services

•         Family leave schemes

•         Cycle loan scheme

•         Discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans

About You

You will join a multi-disciplinary team working in close collaboration with computational biologists, wet lab biologists and clinicians to deliver ambitious and cutting-edge research.

We are looking for applicants with a PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics or related field and programming skills (with proficiency in R and/or Python).You should have significant experience in single cell/spatial transcriptomics package ecosystems such as Seurat or Scanpy.

Application process

Only online applications received before midday (UK time) on Friday 9th February 2024 can be considered.

You will be required to upload a covering letter/supporting statement, CV and the details of two referees as part of your online application.

Interviews are due to be held in person on the afternoon on Monday 19th February 2024