Senior Research Assistant Term Biological Sciences (Tate)

Job Description:

The Tate lab in the Department of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University is seeking a motivated and conscientious Senior Research Assistant (TERM) to analyze and visualize high-throughput genomic and transcriptomic data related to the ecology and evolution of infection and immunity. Previous bioinformatics and statistical experience and excellent data management practices are necessary. Reporting directly to the Principal Investigator the SRA will collaborate with other lab members to pursue the scientific goals of the laboratory.

The primary responsibilities for this position include data processing statistical analysis data visualization training other lab members in these skills and supervising undergraduate bioinformatics projects. The candidate should be capable of performing tasks and protocols with minimal supervision and should be willing to troubleshoot failed procedures including consultation of the primary literature. The candidate will be expected to attend laboratory meetings and be a scientifically engaged and collaborative member of the lab including assisting with training and bioinformatics support to other lab members. Occasional evening and weekend work may be required.

The Tate lab is a dynamic group of students postdoctoral fellows and staff interested in the ecology and evolution of immune systems and infectious diseases. The group is highly collaborative and values frequent communication feedback and respect among lab members. The Tate lab is part of the Department of Biological Sciences whichhas an excellent staff to facilitate issue resolution involving personnel financial management supply and equipment orders proposal submission and infrastructure. The faculty in the department carry out diverse research projects and often collaborate with other members within the department and in nearby departments. This department covers a broad spectrum of biology from molecules and cells to tissues and organisms to populations and ecosystems. Award-winning faculty and graduate students teach and carry out research in Biochemistry Structural Biology and Biophysics Cell Biology Genetics Molecular Biology Computational Biology Evolutionary Biology Ecology Developmental Biology and Neurobiology.

Key Functions and Expected Performance:

1. Under minimal supervision process and analyze high-throughput data (85% time)
   • Download data from VANTAGE or other archives and subject to quality control alignment and annotation pipelines using computing clusters
   • Identify implement and modify existing packages and pipelines to analyze and visualize data
   • Prepare data figures for presentations and manuscripts and assist with manuscript preparation in collaboration with the PI
   • Collaborate with other lab members to design and implement data analysis pipelines in support of research projects
   • Implement good data management practices as outlined in data management plans associated with external grants and VU-advised best practices
   • Assist the PI in implementing and enforcing compliance with data management plans across the lab
2. Providing training and oversight of undergraduate and graduate students (15% time)
   • Train students in basic data analysis pipelines
   • Supervise the implementation of data analysis pipelines toward research projects
   • Collaborate with students to design novel analytical and data visualization solutions for presentations and manuscripts
3. Other duties as assigned.

Education and Certifications:

• A B.S. or B.A. degree in biology biotechnology computer science data science or a related field is necessary.

• A research-oriented Masters degree and at least three years of previous research or bioinformatics experience is strongly preferred.

• Previous experience with NGS data analysis HTML reporting (e.g. RMarkdown) Version Control (Github) Data Architecture (large scale data management) and Scripting (Python R) is required.

Supervisory Relationships:
The SRA will be responsible for mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in computational data analysis techniques and implementing a concerted lab-wide data management strategy; this position reports administratively to the department administrative manager and functionally to the PI.