Postdoctoral Research Associate – circular RNA in Alzheimer’s disease, The NeuroGenomics and Informatics Center, Washington University – St. Louis, MO
Description
The Cruchaga Lab, member of the NeuroGenomics and Informatics Center, is recruiting a motivated, creative, self-driven Postdoctoral Research Associate to investigate the role of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). CircRNA is a new category of non-coding RNAs, that result from backsplicing events and are highly expressed in the central nervous system, especially in synapses. Recently, our group identified significant associations between circRNA expression and AD diagnosis, clinical dementia and neuropathological severity.
The Postdoctoral Research Associate will be mentored by Dr. Carlos Cruchaga developing bioinformatics tools to analyze datasets from large and well-characterized cohorts of Alzheimer’s disease cases and controls; developing and performing state of the art statistical analysis to investigate circRNA expression profiles, disease risk, onset and progression and generating prediction models to identify druggable targets for Alzheimer’s disease. The new Postdoctoral Research Associate will work in a collegial environment and join a multidisciplinary, diverse team in a well-stablished, well-funded research group, currently 30+ dynamic members, developing bioinformatics and analyzing multi omics data to explore the frontiers of Alzheimer’s disease.
Recent publications on the subject:
Dube U, et al. Nat Neurosci. 2019. PMID: 31591557 ǀ Chen HH, et al. Acta Neuropathol. Commun. 2022, PMID: 35246267 ǀ Bellenguez C, et al. Nat Genet. 2022, PMID: 35379992 ǀ Ibanez, L. Genes (Basel). 2021. PMID: 34440421
Qualifications
• PhD in Neurogenetics, Neuroscience, Genetics, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Data Science, Statistical Genomics, or a related discipline involving the interrogation of gene expression datasets, or expect to obtain a degree in the near future
• Hands-on experience using DESeq2, DCC, Salmon, Star, Picard, FastQC, MultiQC, RATTLE, Docker, PLINK, IBD, PCA, association analyses, R, Bash and excel.
• Knowledge of PRSice, MAGENTA, MANTRA, Mendelian Randomization Coloc, QTL, SKAT is a plus
• Solid skills in at least one programming language: R, Python, or Perl and experience working in Linux and/or high-performance cluster environments
• Familiar with large-scale human genomics or other omics, preferably related to neurodegenerative diseases
• A strong ability to perform analytical reasoning to extract biological insights from data-driven approaches
• Familiarity with interrogation of publicly available resources, highly beneficial
• Exposure working in cross-functional interdisciplinary teams
• Additional opportunities to participate in translational projects, multi-omic analysis and machine learning
Contact Info. / Where to Apply / Required Application Documents (e.g. cover letter, CV)
Interested candidates, please send cover letter and CV to Oscar Diaz Ruiz, Ph.D, Program Manager. doscar@wustl.edu