Lead Bioinformatics Analyst

The Mefford Lab in the Center for Pediatric Neurological Disease Research at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital uses genome-wide approaches to identify genetic, genomic, and epigenetic causes of human disease including epilepsy, and related pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders. The major focus of our current work is to identify causes of pediatric epilepsy by employing state-of-the-art technologies including whole-exome sequencing, targeted gene panel sequencing, RNA-seq in patient-derived cells, genome-wide methylation arrays. The Mefford lab has discovered numerous new epilepsy genes and copy number variants responsible for pediatric epilepsy, each of which causes a range of clinical features.
The Lead Bioinformatics Analyst will take a prominent role in our research and collaborations to analyze multiple types of genomics data: exome and genome sequence, bulk RNA-seq, single-cell/nuclei RNA-seq, methylation, SNP array, and others to identify variants associated with human genetic conditions and understand their underlying mechanisms. The ideal candidate will be capable of self-directed research within broader goals set by the group, have previous experience with next-generation sequence data analysis highly desirable, knowledge of statistical/mathematical packages such as R.

• 
  Responsible for complex analysis on biomedical data produced from a variety of biotechnology platforms including microarrays, next generation sequencing systems, and scientific imaging.
• Designs, develops, improves, modifies, and operates data analysis pipelines.
• Develops bioinformatics pipelines or uses advanced software packages (e.g. extant) in conducting data analysis for biomedical datasets.
• Works closely with experimental researchers to understand analytical needs, provide technical consultation, design analytical approaches, generate/provide analysis results and reports, project reports and perform requested custom analyses.
• Independently performs post-processing statistical analysis of results and interprets results.
• Contributes to the evaluation and recommendation of new software tools to meet the growing needs of the research community at St Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH).
• Designs and prepares materials for training lab scientists on software usage and data analysis techniques.
• Manages projects and coordinates other efforts related to analysis and infrastructure as directed.

• 
  Bachelor's degree is required.
• Master's degree or PHD is preferred

• 
  Six (6) years of relevant experience is required.
• Four (4) years of relevant experience may be acceptable with a Master's degree.
• No experience may be acceptable with a PhD in Computer Science or Bioinformatics, with a background in the biological sciences.
• Experience in programming (Python, Java, C/C++, Perl, or other programming/scripting languages) under Linux/Unix environment is preferred.
• Experience with and the ability to deal with a wide range of users is preferred.
• Experience in independent data analyses and project management is preferred.
• End-user support and training experience is preferred.
• Experience with open-source software development preferred.
• Experience in the development of algorithms, statistical methods, or scientific software preferred.
• Experience in next-generation sequence analysis or imaging analysis is preferred.
• Experience in working with high-throughput data sets in a highly competitive environment is preferred.
• Experience in working in a team project is preferred.
• Cross-training in biological sciences (e.g. genomics, genetics, transcriptomics, and epigenetics) preferred
• Scripting experience using a statistics package such as R, S-Plus or SAS preferred.
• Experience in personnel management preferred.

COVID-19 vaccine:
As of September 10, 2021, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has mandated the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees, excluding those with an approved medical or religious accommodation, as a condition of employment.
St. Jude is an Equal Opportunity EmployerNo Search Firms:St. Jude Children's Research Hospital does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. Please do not call or email. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee or other representative at St. Jude via email, the internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place and approved by HR will result in no fee being paid in the event the candidate is hired by St. Jude.