Postdoc in Bioscan: Large Scale Study of - Cambridge, United Kingdom - Wellcome Sanger Institute

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Verified Company

Cambridge, United Kingdom

3 weeks 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 Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) to join the Lawniczak Group on the UK-wide BIOSCAN project that is using DNA based approaches to study spatiotemporal change in insect diversity.

About Us:

BIOSCAN is a global project initiated by the International Barcode of Life to simultaneously study species diversity, interactions, and dynamics using DNA barcoding.

At the Wellcome Sanger Institute, we are leading a UK-based project that contributes to this global effort.

We have partnered with agencies and researchers across the UK to collect and study one million insects over the next five years.

In addition to the use of COI DNA barcodes to identify spatiotemporal change, we also retain 99% of the DNA from each specimen as well as the specimens themselves (DNA is non-destructively extracted).

Thus, there is huge potential to leverage on the BIOSCAN results to create new genomics projects on particular species or species groups.

You will be responsible for:

You will be responsible for data analysis of all BIOSCAN data, studying change in species abundance, diversity, and interactions (where possible) over space and time as the project progresses.

Abundant opportunities to integrate other data sources into analyses exist, which you should be keen to investigate.

You will also play an important role in working with others to develop digestible and informative data visualisation and reports for our project partners.

There are also opportunities to make wet-lab advances to get the most from the samples including the potential to capture additional barcodes for each specimen such as the evidence of plants each insect might have interacted with and/or pollinated.

You will be expected to develop a research project that entails whole genome sequencing of a small subset of the BIOSCAN samples where interesting or important research questions can be addressed.

A likely focus would be studying cryptic species diversity in different Diptera families using long read sequencing.

About You:

Essential skills:

Technical Skills:

PhD in entomology, molecular biology, statistics, bioinformatics, population genetics, ecological genomics, or other relevant area of molecular or quantitative analysis
The ability to analyse and interpret genomic data with strong quantitative/computational skills.
Programming and bioinformatics skills and/or experience in statistical analysis
Practical knowledge of DNA barcoding
Excellent analytical, organizational, and problem solving skills
Ability to deliver highquality scientific outputs as evidenced by publication record
Competencies and Behaviours:
Demonstrates inclusivity and respect for all
Being a team player, and working collaboratively with others and building working relationships with internal and external colleagues
Ability to plan and prioritise own work in order to meet deadlines, including using initiative to plan research programmes
Highly developed communication skills to engage effectively with a wideranging audience, both orally and in writing, using a range of media

Other Information:

Salary Per annum:
£35,707-£44,712 (dependent upon skills and experience)

Application Process:

Please write a cover letter that 1) showcases your relevant skills and background, 2) describes what you would use the BIOSCAN data to investigate, and 3) describes how you would use the BIOSCAN data to develop a research project on species of interest.

Closing Date: 9th May 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.