Research Assistant (EID/PBC)

National University of Singapore; Singapore; On-site; SGD 45,000 - 76,000; Full time

Job summary

The National University of Singapore invites applications for a research role within the Signature Research Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases. The successful candidate will plan, organise and conduct research under supervision, developing frameworks for virome, transcriptomic and metagenomic analyses and building pipelines for multi-omics data.

Responsibilities include data preparation for manuscripts, reports and grant applications, presenting research outputs, and collaborating with

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, or related discipline.
• Experience designing or developing pipelines for large-scale metagenomic or meta-transcriptomic data.
• Understanding of FASTQ formats; experience with quality control and read trimming using FastQC and fastp.
• Experience analyzing bulk RNA-seq data using STAR.
• Experience analyzing single-cell RNA-seq data using Cell Ranger and Seurat.
• Familiarity with public sequence databases such as SRA and NCBI.
• Exposure to machine learning or deep learning (scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow) for biological/clinical data.
• Familiarity with pathogenic viruses is desirable.
• Strong knowledge of Linux/Unix and HPC clusters.
• Bash, R and Python scripting.
• Self-motivated, collaborative, able to meet deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Develop and improve framework of virome analyses, transcriptomic, metagenomic analyses or related tools for studying infectious diseases.
• Apply and integrate tools to jointly analyse multi-omics data to characterise infection types and predict patient outcomes.
• Develop computational scripts and pipelines for data analyses.
• Interface with other scientists to achieve project goals.
• Prepare data for manuscripts, progress reports and grant applications.
• Demonstrate and present research output.
• Perform other duties related to the project theme.

Skills

Data analysis

Scientific communication

Collaboration

Self-motivation

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Bioinformatics/Biostatistics

Master's Degree in Bioinformatics/Biostatistics

Tools

FastQC

fastp

STAR

Cell Ranger

Seurat

Python

R

Bash

Linux HPC

Scikit-learn

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Job description

Company Description

The National University of Singapore is the national research university of Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest higher education institution in Singapore

Job Description

The Signature Research Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases ("EID") aims to pioneer our understanding of emerging infections through world-class research that integrates immunology, infection biology, pathogen genomics, and computational approaches. This integration drives comprehensive studies of host‑pathogen interactions across molecular, individual, and population scales to address emerging health challenges.

The selected candidate will perform a variety of research activities which include planning, organising and conducting research studies within the overall scope of a research project under the supervision of the Principal Investigator or his/her designate, including but not limited to the following:

• Develop and improve framework of virome analyses, transcriptomic data analyses, metagenomic analyses or associated tools for studying infectious diseases.


• Apply and integrate the tools to jointly analyse multi-omics data, including host immune responses and virome composition, aiming to characterise infection types and predict patient outcomes in acute respiratory infection.


• Develop computational scripts and/or pipelines for data analyses.


• Interface and network with other scientists to achieve the goals of the project.


• Prepare data for manuscripts, progress reports and grant applications.


• Demonstrate and present research output.


• Perform other related duties incidental to the project theme.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree or Master's Degree in Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, or other related disciplines.


• Prior experience in designing or developing pipelines for the analysis of large-scale metagenomic or meta-transcriptomic datasets is preferred.


• Have basic understanding of sequencing data formats such as FASTQ, and experience with quality control and read trimming using tools such as FastQC and fastp.


• Prior experience in analysing bulk RNA‑seq data, including read alignment and quantification using tools such as STAR.


• Prior experience analysing single-cell RNA‑seq data using tools such as Cell Ranger and Seurat.


• Familiarity with public sequence databases and repositories such as SRA and NCBI, including retrieving and processing publicly available datasets.


• Prior exposure to machine learning or deep learning approaches (for example scikit‑learn, PyTorch or TensorFlow) and their application to biological or clinical data would be advantageous.


• Familiarity with pathogenic viruses is desirable.


• Possess strong knowledge in Linux/Unix operating systems and high-performance computing clusters.


• Have in-depth knowledge of Bash, R and Python scripting.


• Self-motived, able to work effectively and efficiently, willing to work hard to meet tight deadlines and work collaboratively in a diverse workforce.

We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.