Bioinformatician in the Social and Host-Microbiome Systems lab

Centre for Genomic Regulation; Barcelona; Presencial; EUR 45.000 - 65.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain, is seeking a bioinformatician to support our lab’s research on host-microbiome interactions and indirect genetic effects. You will maintain and apply Nextflow pipelines to large-scale genomics and metagenomics data, collaborating with a multidisciplinary team across HPC environments.

The role requires a Master’s or PhD in bioinformatics or related fields, fluent English, and strong programming skills in R and Python.

Formación

• Experience carrying out research in a research laboratory.
• Experience analysing large, complex biological datasets.
• Experience working in high-performance computing environments.
• Experience running, adapting, maintaining and troubleshooting computational pipelines.
• Experience with Nextflow or a comparable workflow manager such as Snakemake

Conocimientos

R

Python

High-performance computing

Pipeline troubleshooting

Independent problem solving

Educación

Master's or PhD in bioinformatics or related fields

Herramientas

Nextflow

Snakemake

Docker

Apptainer/Singularity

Git

Conda/Mamba

ENA

Descripción del empleo

The Institute

The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) is an international biomedical research institute of excellence, based in Barcelona, Spain, with more than 400 scientists from 44 countries. The CRG is composed by an interdisciplinary, motivated and creative scientific team which is supported both by a flexible and efficient administration and by high-end and innovative technologies.
In April 2021, the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) received the renewal of the ' HR Excellence in Research ' Award from the European Commission. This is a recognition of the Institute's commitment to developing an HR Strategy for Researchers, designed to bring the practices and procedures in line with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (Charter and Code).

We are seeking to hire a bioinformatician to support our lab’s research on indirect genetic effects (genetic effects arising when heritable traits of one individual influence the phenotype of another, through social interactions), host-microbiome interactions, and microbiome transmission between hosts. We have developed several Nextflow pipelines for analysing data at scale and in a reproducible manner, and are now ready to apply them to the wealth of genomic, phenotypic and metagenomic data that our lab and our collaborators constantly generate, with a view to gain ground-breaking insights into the quantitative genetics and biology of host, microbiome and social partners interactions.

About the team/ lab/ department

The Social and Host-Microbiome Systems lab aims to expand our understanding of the genetic basis of complex traits to encompass genes found in the environment: genes of social partners and genes of the gut microbiota.
Our team is multidisciplinary, with expertise in quantitative/statistical genetics (e.g. heritability, GWAS, indirect/social genetic effects) and metagenomics (microbiome profiling using deep shotgun sequencing data, detecting horizontal transmission). We are mostly computational, but have a small lab component and work in close collaboration with the CRG core units for metagenome sequencing. We have a long-standing collaboration with the NIDA Center of Excellence for Genetics, Genomics, and Epigenetics of Substance Use Disorders in Outbred Rats ( https://ratgenes.org/ ).

Professional experience

Must Have

• Experience carrying out research in a research laboratory
• Experience analysing large, complex biological datasets
• Experience working in high-performance computing environments
• Experience running, adapting, maintaining and troubleshooting computational pipelines
• Experience with Nextflow or a comparable workflow manager such as Snakemake

Desirable but not required/ Nice to have

• Experience with metagenomic data analysis
• Experience with statistical genetics / quantitative genetics
• Experience with reproducible research / software environments, e.g. Conda/Mamba, containers such as Docker/Apptainer/Singularity
• Experience with version control, especially Git
• Experience with public biological repositories, particularly the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA)
• Ample experience collaborating with individuals inside and outside of your team

Education and training

• You hold a Master’s or a PhD in bioinformatics or related fields

Languages

• You are fluent (oral & writing) in English

Competences

• Programming competence in R and Python
• Independent troubleshooting / problem solving
• Rigor and attention to details
• Effective communication in meetings
• Ability to document your code, pipelines, analyses

The Offer – Working Conditions

• Contract duration: Technical and scientific activities contract linked to the project (estimated project duration 2.5 years)
• Estimated annual gross salary: Salary is commensurate with qualifications and consistent with our pay scales
• Target start date: December 1, 2026

We provide a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructures, and unique professional career development opportunities. To check out our training and development portfolio, please visit our website in the training section .

We offer and promote a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.

The CRG is committed to reconcile a work and family life of its employees and are offering extended vacation period and the possibility to benefit from flexible working hours.