Geneticist / Bioinformatician

Job Description

GENETICIST / BIO-INFORMATICIANFixed Term Contract (3 years)EdinburghGrade 3: £36,413 - £40,129 per annumGrade 4: £31,750 - £37,263 per annum REF: ACF/AVS/011/20SRUC is unique in Scotland and one of the largest organisations of its kind in Europe. Our ambitious and exciting vision is to work at local, national and international levels, leading innovation and sustainable development in agriculture and rural sectors.Edinburgh Genetic Evaluation Services (EGENES) is a discreet unit within the Animal and Veterinary Sciences Group, with ICAR accreditation, consisting of geneticists and programmers that provide UK national genetic and genomic evaluations for farmed livestock (dairy, beef, sheep, goats, pigs). Tightly integrated with the Animal Breeding and Genomics Team to ensure that research results are rapidly implemented by farmers and breeding companies and that research is informed by users of evaluations. Researchers also benefit from professional large data handling expertise resident in EGENES.We are currently seeking two experienced geneticists/bio-informaticians who can take a major role in the animal breeding team in close scientific proximity to EGENES, with the other geneticists and the programming team to undertake exciting new research that results in improvement of UK livestock ranging from prediction of new phenotypes using spectral/ hyperspectral data and Deep Learning, using machine learning to invert matrices, generate new phenotypes from existing ones and produce genetic evaluations from them, derive new ways of evaluating existing traits to improve accuracy. We have access to in-house cutting-edge hardware (DGX workstation with 4 GPUs and 20,500 cores) in addition to colossal amounts of national data (billions of records) on very exciting traits so every day is an exciting day in our team.This is an opportunity to be a major contributor to a team developing new genetic and genomic tools for use by farmers and the breeding industry and to undertake research to use animal data to produce those tools. The successful candidates will work within an integrated group of around 20 programmers and geneticists, 7 of which work within EGENES.Every day is different in EGENES and you will be carrying out research with deployment in mind and feeling the satisfaction as you follow a concept through development through to the deployment of a solution.A less experienced geneticist with the right approach, attitude and skills level may also be considered. It is expected that the successful candidates will undertake the necessary research to underpin practical application of developments in genetic evaluation methodologies. The successful candidates will also be expected to generate research proposals, write peer reviewed papers and teach undergrad students. A good candidate would be naturally expected to go on to build a team around them, become independent and grow the portfolio of research undertaken. Such a team would have access to all national and SRUC experimental data available and would continue to work closely with EGENES. Successful candidates will also be expected to contribute to teaching undergraduate students.Required Skills:

A post-doctorate qualification in quantitative genetics (or extensive relevant experience in genetics / bio-informatics)

Excellent numerical and statistical powers

Programming experience and the ability to learn new languages

Good communication ability

Good analytical/problem solving skills

Excellent team player skills

Attention to detail

Highly desirable skills

SQL Server experience

FORTRAN

Scripting

Large data handling experience

Genetic evaluation experience

Please note this is a full-time role engaged on a fixed term contract initially for 3 years.The base location is SRUC / Roslin Institute Building however, due to current lockdown rules, home working may be required.Further details on the requirements of this role can be found in the Job Particulars document which you must read before applying for this role. This is downloadable when you click the APPLY button.Closing Date: 29 October 2020SRUC: Leading the way in Agricultural and Rural Research, Education and ConsultancySRUC is committed to valuing Diversity, advancing Equality and respecting Human Rights throughout the organisation and encouraging applications from disabled people using the "Disability Confident Employer" symbol. SRUC is a member of the Athena SWAN charter.SRUC. A Charitable company limited by guarantee, SC003712. Registered in Scotland No SC103046 Required skills

Fortran

Genetic Algorithms

Genetic Analysis

Genetic Programming

Sql Server

Keyskills :
Genetic Algithms Genetic Programming