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Posting End Date

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the Posting End Date above.

Job End Date

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. 

Job Summary

The Bioinformacian will build and use bioinformatics pipelines for next-generation metagenomic sequencing data and will lead and perform bioinformatics and biostatistical analyses for multiple research projects using internal lab computing resources as well as UBC Advanced Research Computing and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, high-performance computing infrastructure. These projects focus on whole metagenome sequencing datasets derived from clinical and research subject biospecimens from multiple cohort studies and clinical trials and will also include the analysis of publicly available data. The Bioinformatician will provide bioinformatics and data analytic advice to a multidisciplinary research team and contribute to computational and writing support for current and future research projects and grants. The ideal candidate is passionate about applied bioinformatics and enjoys building collaborative relationships with diverse groups. The successful candidate will lead the development and translation of innovative bioinformatics pipelines that will benefit the Manges research group, UBC CDC, BCCDC and potentially other units at UBC. This position also offers a unique opportunity to mentor trainees.  

The primary location for the Bioinformician will be at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Prevention (BCCDC; Heather Avenue and 12th Street in Vancouver, BC), although some remote or hybrid work will be feasible. This position is located within a health-care facility. Therefore, this position requires successful verification of full vaccination against COVID-19 provided prior to the start date, as required by the provincial health mandate. The successful candidate will play a leadership role in the Manges lab and will report to Dr. Aslam Anis or his designate, Shermila Salgadoe, Director of Administration.

Organizational Status

The Manges lab, a UBC-affiliated research lab, is located in the UBC Centre for Disease Control (UBC CDC) research wing of the BCCDC.  Scientists at BCCDC perform epidemiologic, clinical and public health research. The lab is equipped with infrastructure for state-of-the-art sequencing and computing. The position is administered by the UBC CDC, in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of British Columbia's Vancouver Campus, in coordination with the UBC School of Population and Public Health (SPPH). As the academic arm of BCCDC, the UBC CDC conducts and coordinates research, education, knowledge translation and policy development in support of provincial, national and international programs for public health control and prevention. Programs span many areas of infectious and chronic disease, as well as environmental hazards. The UBC SPPH is in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of British Columbia's Vancouver Campus and is structured around four divisions: Occupational and Environmental Health; Health Services and Policy; Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health Practice; and Health in Populations. The resulting mix of professions and disciplines is seen as a means of connecting individuals and learners to galvanize the relationship between health research, public health and health services and to enhance learning.

Work Performed

• Creating and maintaining analysis pipelines for genome and metagenome sequencing analysis and genome and metagenome-based assembly, and potentially other emerging omics technologies;

• Performing bioinformatics analyses and modelling for multiple research projects using adapted versions of analysis pipelines accounting for the uniqueness of each experiment ;

• Performing biostatistical analyses integrating metadata (clinical/epidemiologic data), metagenomics data and multiple omics data types together, including statistical model building ;

• Performing quality control of the analyzed datasets;

• Maintaining internal computing and data storage infrastructure;

• Assisting with renewal applications to UBC Advanced Research Computing (ARC) and Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC);

• Keeping an up-to-date working knowledge of the software tools and new types of omics data analysis strategies and their multi-omics integration;

• Helping to educate/mentor trainees performing their own modelling and analyses with one-on-one sessions;

• Developing or augmenting statistical and biostatistical methods;

• Creating and providing bioinformatics workshops covering topics relevant to the UBC CDC, SPPH and BC Cancer research communities.

• Integrating multiple omics data types together

• Documenting the bioinformatics and statistical methods for inclusion in research publications;

• Facilitating the sharing and standardization of bioinformatics with co-investigators and collaborators;

• Accessing and submitting datasets to the relevant public databases;

• Analyzing, interpreting and compiling data in study reports, presenting results, and participating in the preparation of scientific manuscripts and grant application packages;

• Providing status reports on projects during lab meetings, email correspondence and phone conferences.

Consequences of Error

The Bioinformatician acts independently and within broad guidelines and is accountable for the management and progress of research projects.  The Bioinformatician must exercise initiative and sound judgment in making decisions, planning and executing research tasks. Failure to perform effectively and error in judgment in determining resources and techniques needed for bioinformatics and biostatistical analyses would negatively impact research progress and cause the research group to lose credibility in the eyes of co-investigators, collaborators and funding agencies.

Supervision Received

The successful applicant will work with significant latitude, under broad direction from Dr. Manges, and will report to Dr. Aslam Anis or his delegate, Shermila Salgadoe, Director of Administration.

Supervision Given

Assists and oversees research assistants and students as required. 

Minimum Qualifications
Post-graduate degree in Statistics. Minimum of three years of related experience in research analysis, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD degree in mathematics, computer science, bioinformatics or equivalent will also be considered;

• Senior-level experience and expertise in next-generation metagenomics sequencing and bioinformatics;

• Demonstrated success in computational academic research;

• Extensive knowledge of next-generation metagenomics sequencing technology;

• Programming fluency in scripting languages (Python, PHP, Bash) and programming languages (R, C++, MATLAB);

• Extensive experience working with the Unix/Linux environment;

• Experience working in HPC Cluster and Cloud Computing environments such as UBC ARC or Digital Research Alliance of Canada;

• Demonstrated experience with job schedulers PBS and Slurm;

• Demonstrated expertise with multiple bioinformatics tools used to process short and long sequencing reads;

• Familiarity with workflow management systems such as Nextflow and Snakemake;

• Demonstrated experience with container platforms Docker and Apptainer;

• Demonstrated knowledge of distributed version control systems such as Git;

• Demonstrated expertise in R and experience with the corresponding bioinformatics packages;

• Experience teaching bioinformatics and mentoring students preferred;

• Demonstrated experience in programming in the field of bioinformatics;

• Ability to work both independently and within a team environment on multiple projects;

• Ability to convey concepts and analysis results to non-specialists;

• Willingness to keep up-to-date in fast-moving research fields;

• Good data management skills;

• Experience in project and personnel management;

• Excellent oral and written, interpersonal, analytical, interpersonal and organizational skills;

• Proven ability to multi-task in a deadline-oriented environment with minimal supervision;

• Excellent organizational skills and ability to learn new skills quickly;

• Must be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or hold a valid Canadian work permit.