Neurobiology Curator - Cambridge, United Kingdom - Wellcome Sanger Institute

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Verified Company

Cambridge, United Kingdom

4 days ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges.

About the Role:

We have an exciting opportunity for a Neurobiology Curator to join our Cellular Genetics Programme.

You will be responsible for building and publishing the first brain-wide atlas of cell types in human and non-human primate (NHP) brains.

You will work as part of an international consortium of labs including some of the world's leading neurobiology labs and institutes, funded by the NIH Brain Initiative Cell Atlas Network program - a set of interconnected mammalian brain atlasing consortia covering multiple data modalities and species, development and human diversity.

This position is for a 3 year contract.

About Us:

You will work within a team of experts in using semantics to index and integrate a wide variety of biological data-types, with experience working with projects as diverse as the Human Cell Atlas, the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, Virtual Fly Brain, the Monarch Initiative and the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HubMap).

The atlas will define cell types based on analysis of single cell transcriptomics data covering whole brains. Multi-modal techniques will support mapping these cell types to morphology and activity.

Spatial transcriptomics will support mapping of cell types to brain regions defined in a set of new standard 3D brain atlases for all species studied, based in part on functional MRI data.

All of this data will be mapped across species allowing the more detailed data and analyses generated for NHPs to be leveraged to better understand human brains.

We work collaboratively with biologists to develop standards and tools to help them annotate, track and knit together data and analyses to build a consensus atlas and ontology that will serve as a reference for human and NHP brain cell types.

You will be responsible for:

Collaborating with BICAN research scientists and developers to help design community curation tools and standards to annotate data.
Extending ontologies (queryable classifications) of brain cell types and brain regions. This work will provide essential anatomical, phenotypic and general celltype context for datadriven celltype definitions for whole brain atlases of cell types in human and nonhuman primates.
Using the outputs of the Brain Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) to develop standard, datalinked reference ontologies of brain cell types and brain regions covering the whole brains of Human and nonhuman primates.

About You:

You will work together with a multidisciplinary team to support the aims of the project.

This will include working with developers of human and non-human primate brain region atlases to map their brain region hierarchies.

You will also have the opportunity to build external collaborations with BICAN curator and developer communities.

Essential Skills:

A higher degree in biological science
A research background in mammalian neurobiology and/or single cell transcriptomics.
Knowledge of neurobiology including basic anatomy and cell types
Attention to detail
Self motivated, able to work independently and organise own workload to ensure that quality and quantity targets are achieved.
Ability to develop collaborative working relationships with collaborators and other team members
Experience of researching unfamiliar topics in scientific literature
Ability to consider broad project needs when prioritising your own tasks

Desirable Skills:

PhD in relevant field
Basic programming experience in Unix shell and Python or R
A good understanding of single cell transcriptomics and related analysis techniques

Other Information:

Salary per annum:
£43,597-£51,794

Application Process:

Closing Date: 29th October 2023

Working at Wellcome Sanger:

Our flexible-hybrid working environment is designed to support a healthy work-life balance.

This means you can work flexibly with a combination of working from home, and working from our Campus to allow you to focus on being productive and part of the team while enjoying the benefits of working flexibly.

We aim to attract, recruit, retain and develop talent from the widest possible talent pool, thereby gaining insight and access to different markets to generate a greater impact on the world.

We have a supportive culture with the following staff networks, LGBTQ+, Parents and Carers and Race Equity to bring people together to share experiences, offer specific support and development opportunities and raise awareness.

The networks are also a place for allies to provide support to others.

We want our people to be whoever they want to be because we believe people who bring their best selves to work, do their best work.

That's why we're committed to creating a truly inclusive culture at Sanger Institute.

We will consider all individuals without discrimination and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, where everyone can thrive.

Our Benefits:

We are proud to deliver an awarding campus-wide employee wellbeing strategy and programme.

The importance of good health and adopting a healthier lifestyle and the commitment to reduce work-related stress is strongly acknowledged and recognised at Sanger Institute.