Computation biologist position at Cornell

A postdoctoral Computational Biologist position is available immediately at Cornell University in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics. This position serves to support the database and bioinformatics component of the Triticeae Coordinated Agricultural Project (TCAP). The overall project is a five-year, $25 million effort to accelerate the improvement of wheat and barley for performance under stress from climate change.

Application deadline: 28 February 2011. We will accept applications until a suitable candidate is identified.

Start date: as soon as possible.

Qualifications: Ph.D. in quantitative / statistical genetics, statistics, bioinformatics, or related field. Ability to query, analyze, and visualize large datasets of plant genomes with sequence and trait data. Programming skills in relevant statistical or scripting languages. Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing.

Responsibilities: This position serves to support the database and bioinformatics component of the Triticeae Coordinated Agricultural Project (TCAP). The overall project is a five-year, $25 million effort to accelerate the improvement of wheat and barley for performance under stress from climate change. Over $1.5 million will be spent adding functionality to a dedicated relational database, “The Triticeae Toolbox” or T3, for public-sector breeding of wheat, barley, and oat (currently under construction at http://triticeaetoolbox.org). Much field and genotype data will be generated by the project by over 50 investigators. The computational biologist will be responsible for development of analysis and visualization tools that contribute to crop discovery research using genetic, genomic, physiological, evolutionary, and agricultural performance data. Possible areas of research include application of machine learning and data mining methods, development of hierarchical models integrating data types, improvement of multivariate models, understanding genotype interactions with extensively characterized environments, and creation of visually rich summaries of statistical model outputs that improve researcher and crop breeder understanding of the signal in these datasets and its relationship to crop improvement. The computational biologist will also provide instructional materials that may be used directly by investigators analyzing data and for training other project participants. It is expected that the tools and analysis methods developed by this person will produce novel and useful insights that can help guide crop plant improvement. The hiree will work closely with a database team including a curator and a database programmer to integrate novel analyses into the T3 user interface.

Applications: Send a letter of application and complete resume with names of three references to either Dr. Mark E. Sorrells (mes12@cornell.edu) or Jean-Luc Jannink (jj332@cornell.edu), 240 Emerson Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.