Vacancies

We have an exciting opportunity to appoint an enthusiastic and experienced Bioinformatician to join Professor Valentina Escott-Price’s research group within the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University.  The post holder will play a leading role in the analysis of large and complex genetic datasets with a range of Machine Learning approaches, whilst leading a broad range of investigative and analytical activities to maximally exploit gene x gene and gene x environment interactions in clinical and genetic data and linking them to an individual risk score with the aim to reveal novel therapeutic targets in dementia. They will help refine inclusion criteria for future clinical trials and ultimately translate into guidance for personalized healthcare decisions. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to take part in cutting-edge research investigating the complex architecture of dementia and related subphenotypes in human data.

In this role, you will work independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary team, to perform self-directed analyses using in house and publicly available datasets for high impact, peer-reviewed publications. Applicants should be knowledgeable and enthusiastic with the ability to multi-task and communicate effectively. Core tasks will include data analysis and management of genetic, genomic and related phenotypic data from dementia case-control and cohort samples, publicly available and in-house generated genomic human data. Collaborative working is a key component of this role meaning that communication skills will be vital, in order to cultivate international collaborations from a number of academic institutions.

We’d like to hear from you if you have a background in machine learning and biostatistics with proven experience of extensive large-scale data analyses and manipulation, including analysis of genome-wide association studies and genetic interactions. Expert knowledge of data manipulation in a UNIX/Linux environment and proficiency in high level programming languages such as Python and R Statistics is essential. Knowledge of techniques used in genetics and epidemiology, as well as experience in using software used for the analysis of genomic data such as PLINK, LDScore, is desirable.

For informal enquiries please contact Professor Valentina Escott-Price (escottpricev@cardiff.ac.uk)

This post is full-time (35 hours per week), available from 01.11.2024 and fixed term until 30.09.2025, based at the Hadyn Ellis Building, Cathays campus. 

Salary: £40,247 - £45,163 per annum (Grade 6).  Appointments to roles at Cardiff University are usually made at bottom of scale unless in exceptional circumstances.

The majority of roles at Cardiff University are currently operating under “blended working” arrangements, with staff having the flexibility to work partly from home and partly from the University campus depending on specific business requirements. Discussions around these arrangements can take place after the successful candidate has been appointed.

Cardiff University offers many excellent benefits, including 45 days annual leave (incl bank holidays), local pension scheme, a cycle to work scheme and other travel initiatives, annual increments within the pay scale, and more. It is an exciting and vibrant place to work, with many different challenges and is a proud Living Wage supporter.

Date advert posted: Thursday, 14 November 2024

Closing date: Sunday, 1 December 2024

Dementia is the greatest health challenge of our century.

The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is the biggest UK initiative supporting research to fill this gap.

The UK DRI Care Research and Technology at Imperial has been established to address a medical research area of highest importance and future impact as one of seven new national centres of excellence embedded in major UK universities. Together the centres will transform the diagnosis, treatment and care of people with dementias. The MRC, alongside charity partners Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK, have invested £250m in fulfilment of the ambition identified in the Prime Minister's 2020 Challenge on Dementia.

The UK DRI Care Research and Technology centre at Imperial is seeking an experienced Centre and Research Commercialisation Manager interested taking on a challenging role with considerable responsibility and scope for personal growth. The post holder will manage the UK DRI Care Research and Technology centre, working closely with the centre Associate Director, Prof David Sharp, as well as colleagues in the UK DRI HQ and other centres to deliver on its ambitious six-year plan. They will oversee the centre’s complex multi-disciplinary research operation, act as the principle liaison with both the funder and partner institutes and be responsible for contributing to innovative research and business development within the Centre.

For full details, please visit the Imperial website.

Dr Maura Malpetti is looking for an enthusiastic Post-Doctoral Research Associate or Research Assistant to join her lab at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences of the University of Cambridge. The post is part of a Cambridge-based program aiming to investigate neuroinflammation in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and accelerate the development of treatments for dementia. To this end, we also recently established a multi-centre study, the UK-wide Open Network for Frontotemporal dementia Inflammation Research (ON-FIRE), which involves data collection from 22 sites across the UK.

The post will focus on the integration of novel PET and blood-based biomarkers of neuroinflammation, neuropathology and neurodegeneration, and clinical outcomes in models of disease progression in genetic and sporadic frontotemporal lobar degeneration. In this role, you will lead (i) PET imaging recruitment and data analysis in patients with frontotemporal dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy, (ii) the coordination of ON-FIRE and related studies on blood-based biomarkers. You will drive the project, develop and deliver the study's research objectives and be well equipped to present developments and key findings to relevant stakeholders.

For this post, you will have an undergraduate and/or a PhD in neurosciences, psychology, physiology or related discipline. You will have knowledge of neuroimaging, related research methods and applications, and project management skills. Experience in patient recruitment in research studies of dementia or mental health disorders would be advantageous. You will collaborate within a balanced team with post-doctoral scientists, clinical fellows, research nurses and students to ensure efficient research activities across the centre.

For informal inquiries regarding the role, contact Dr Maura Malpetti (mm2243@medschl.cam.ac.uk). The role will primarily be based at the Herchel Smith Building for Brain and Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SZ. The University values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity. We particularly encourage women and/or candidates from a minority background to apply for this vacancy as they are currently under-represented at this level within our University.

Closing date: 8th December 2024. 

Dr Maura Malpetti is looking for an enthusiastic Post-Doctoral Research Associate to join her lab at the Cambridge University Department of Clinical Neurosciences. The post is part of a Cambridge-based program aiming to investigate inflammation in frontotemporal dementia and accelerate the development of treatments for dementia. To this end, we recently established a multi-centre study, the UK-wide Open Network for Frontotemporal dementia Inflammation Research (ON-FIRE), which involves data collection from 22 sites across the UK.

As a Post-Doctoral Research Associate, you will lead the statistical analysis and data management for multivariate biomarkers identified using novel biochemical assays, including SIMOA, NULISA, Mass Spectrometry, multiomics and other data generating platforms. The role will involve computational analyses of blood-derived data - not wet-lab analyses on the samples - and leading academic and industry partners, including biochemical laboratory facilities such as the Biomarker Factory at the Dementia Research Institute.

The postholder will develop pipelines to (i) centralise adjunct data from all sites to Cambridge; (ii) combine multimodal data, linking blood samples to NHS digital records, genetics and available neuroimages; (iii) format and share data through the Dementias Platform UK data portal. You will lead computational analyses on biomarkers data, polygenic risk score calculations, and immunophenotyping data. You will drive the project, develop and deliver the study's research objectives and be well equipped to present developments and key findings to relevant stakeholders.

For this post, you will have an undergraduate and/or a PhD in Bioinformatics, Statistics or related discipline. You will have in-depth of knowledge of biostatistics, and related research methods and applications. Experience with machine learning algorithms and strong programming skills using platforms such as MATLAB, R, Bash and Python will be essential.

For informal inquiries regarding the role, contact Dr Maura Malpetti (mm2243@medschl.cam.ac.uk). The role will primarily be based at the Herchel Smith Building for Brain and Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SZ. The University values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity. We particularly encourage women and/or candidates from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background to apply for this vacancy as they are currently under-represented at this level within our University.

Closing date: 8th December 2024