Computational Biologist

Job Summary:

In accordance with the Mission, Vision and Values, and strategic directions of Provincial Health Services Authority patient safety is a priority and a responsibility shared by everyone at PHSA. As such, the requirement to continuously improve quality and safety is inherent in all aspects of this position.
The Computational Biologist performs bioinformatics analyses and contributes to software development related to the operation of a large-scale clinical sequencing facility.

Duties/Accountabilities:

1. Contributes to the design, development, implementation, validation, running, and maintenance of clinical bioinformatics pipelines and related databases.
2. Contributes to incorporation of third-party software into clinical bioinformatics pipelines, including:
a. identifying candidate software to consider
b. comparing software candidates to aid in selection
c. determining optimal parameters for the chosen software
d. developing interfaces to integrate the chosen software and
e. validating integration of the chosen software
3. Participates in the development of novel software solutions, as directed by the Assistant Bioinformatics Coordinator or Clinical Bioinformatics Coordinator.
4. Participates in peer code review.
5. Contributes to writing and updating official procedures and other documentation related to clinical bioinformatics pipelines.
6. Verifies results produced by clinical bioinformatics pipelines.
7. Performs exploratory analyses to identify potential root causes of issues encountered during production processing, and implements corrective actions as directed by the Assistant Bioinformatics Coordinator or Clinical Bioinformatics Coordinator.
8. Performs bioinformatics analyses to answer questions from the Clinical Director, Clinical Bioinformatics Coordinator, or Assistant Bioinformatics Coordinator.
9. Presents implementation plans, analysis results, and validation results internally and externally, in oral presentations and written documentation.
10. Contributes to the development of research papers by providing materials, methods, and/or analyzed data.
11. Participates in the training of others through orientation, informal instruction, and sharing of job information.
12. Performs other related duties as required.

Qualifications:

Education, Training and Experience
• Graduation from a recognized Bachelor of Applied Science or Bachelor of Science Program in either Biological Sciences or Computer Science.
• Two (2) year’s of recent related experience or an equivalent combination of education, training and experience acceptable to the GSC Group Leaders.
Skills and Abilities
• Demonstrated skill with Python or other similar high level languages
• Functional knowledge of distributed version control systems, such as Git.
• Demonstrated ability in R or other similar statistical programming languages
• Familiarity with relational databases, such as PostgreSQL, and with ORMs
• Ability to program and run analyses in a production environment
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Comfortable working in a Unix environment, including experience with shell scripting and common command-line tools
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills including the ability to work effectively with others in a team environment
• Demonstrated ability to efficiently organize work assignments to complete required tasks on time
• Familiarity with next-generation sequencing, cancer genetics, principles of clinical testing, experimental design, statistical hypothesis testing, and/or machine learning would be considered an asset
• Ability to use related equipment