Postdoctoral position in germline and somatic evolution across mammals Full-time NEW

Postdoctoral Position In Germline And Somatic Evolution Across Mammals

The research group of Mikkel Heide Schierup invites applications for a 2-year postdoctoral position in germline and somatic evolution in mammals. The place of employment is the Bioinformatics Research Centre at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University. Start date is 1 July, 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter.

The project funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation will generate large scale Pacbio HiFi sequencing data from many different tissues from multiple individuals of different mammalian species as well as snRNA sequencing data from the same tissues. The purpose is to detect different types of mutations (SNVs, indels, transpositions) in the different tissues and model their occurrence in relation to tissue specific gene expression differences as well as species, age and gender of the individuals.

This is a 2–year position from 1 July 2026 or as soon possible hereafter.

The position may include the following tasks:

• Develop computation pipelines for large scale analysis mainly using Python
• Develop approaches to infer DNA single strand damage from HiFi kinetics output
• Infer scars of repair directly from the HiFi sequences in the form of homologous repair scars and indels
• Develop new statistical approaches for data analysis.
• Analyse snRNA data and relate it to mutational outcomes

Applicants for this position must hold a PhD degree (or equivalent level of education) in population genetics, bioinformatics, data science, genetics, or in molecular biology with an emphasis on quantitative methods. Applicants are asked to submit the following documents:

• a cover letter stating the relevant experience and projects and motivation for applying for the position [maximum two pages],
• a cv and a list of publications,
• a maximum of three relevant publications.

The daily place of work for the present position is the Bioinformatics Research Centre (BiRC), Dept. of Molecular Biology and Genetics, with co-supervision from the Department of Gastroenterology at Aarhus University Hospital nearby. BiRC employs about 30 staff, postdocs and PhD students working on various aspects of computational biology and hosts a number of collaborations with the Hospital. BiRC hosts the genomeDK supercomputer, which will be available for the current project. BiRC is also responsible for the Masters in Bioinformatics education with around 30 students per year. BiRC thus offers a dynamic working environment with many young people, where the majority are international and the working language is English. The research group of Mikkel H. Schierup currently employs eight postdocs and five PhD students in a variety of projects in evolutionary genomics. The working environment is very collaborative and PhD students and postdocs are encouraged to develop their own independent projects.

The place of work is Bioinformatics Research Centre, Universitetsbyen 81, 8000 Aarhus C, and the area of employment is Aarhus University with related departments.

Applications must be received no later than 29 May 2026.

Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self.