Scientist – Cancer Genome Reconstruction (GIS) Full-time

Scientist – Cancer Genome Reconstruction (GIS)

The Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) is the national flagship for genomic sciences, driving cutting-edge research at the intersection of biology, engineering, and medicine. This position is offered in the Laboratory of AI in Genomics, led by Prof. Mile Sikic, which uses advanced bioinformatics and deep learning approaches to develop next-generation models for genomic data analysis. We are a group of computer scientists with a mission to improve healthcare using advanced deep learning models. Located in the heart of Singapore's thriving biomedical hub, GIS offers a dynamic and collaborative environment, with close ties to world-class universities (NUS and NTU), pharmaceutical companies, and biotech start-ups. Joining our team means working on transformative projects with real-world impact, while benefiting from Singapore's vibrant research ecosystem and strong support for innovation.

Project background

De novo genome assembly has been one of the most challenging problems in genomics. However, with the development of new long read sequencing technologies, new assemblers, and manually curated high-quality benchmarks including CHM13, HG002, and I002C assembling most of human chromosomes T2T has become a routine task.

This project will focus on a more challenging task, assembling of human cancer genomes which are especially difficult due to cancer genome heterogeneity. Using the fact that we can reconstruct normal tissue genomes routinely we aim to reconstruct cancer genomes.

Job description

We are looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to:

• Be part of a team of wet lab and computational scientists aiming to reconstruct various types of cancer genomes and analyze their genome and epigenome
• Reconstruct various pairs of normal and cancer genomes using various types of reads (ie. long ONT and HiFi reads, Hi-C reads)

Profile

We welcome applications from candidates with:

• A PhD in computational biology or related fields
• Proven experience in using de novo genome assemblers and visualization tools such as IGV
• Publication record at top-tier journals or bioinformatics conferences (i.e. Recomb, ISMB, EECB and Genome Informatics)
• Strong experience in Python programming
• A structured, independent, proactive, and collaborative working style

We offer

• A fully funded position with an internationally competitive salary
• Professional development opportunities, including support for grant applications and participation in conferences and workshops
• Access to state-of-the-art research infrastructure, including NSCC's high-performance computing clusters
• A dynamic, interdisciplinary, and collaborative research environment
• The position is initially offered for two years

How to apply

We look forward to receiving your application with the following documents:

• Letter of Motivation
• CV
• Diplomas & Transcripts

We accept applications submitted via email directed to Prof. Sikic at mile_sikic@a-star.edu.sg.