Data Scientist II (BTI, Bioinformatics)

Description:

The Rokita Lab at Children's National Hospital is seeking a highly skilled Bioinformatics Scientist to join our team. We are situated within the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research (CCIR) and Brain Tumor Institute. This position will play a critical role in advancing research focused on uncovering oncogenic mechanisms in pediatric brain tumors and identifying novel therapeutic targets driven by RNA splicing. The Bioinformatics Scientist will engage in basic and translational research projects and contribute to tool development, such as interactive applications for visualizing complex genomic data.

The role involves close collaboration with researchers and clinicians within both Children's National as well as external partners. The successful candidate will be mentored, lead bioinformatics-driven projects, participate in collaborative activities in the lab and BTI such as code review and/or workshop training, and contribute to grant applications and scientific manuscripts.

Key Responsibilities:

* Lead high-quality bioinformatics analyses on pediatric oncology datasets, including genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic data.

* Design and implement downstream analytical workflows for high-throughput data using our GitHub, Docker, and AWS infrastructure, focusing on reproducibility, code efficiency, and scalability.

* Collaborate on the Open Pediatric Cancer (OpenPedCan) Project.

* Utilize cloud-computing environments (e.g., AWS EC2) and/or high-performance computing (HPC) to support large-scale or memory-intensive analyses.

* Actively and positively participate in sprints and code reviews, ensuring high standards for reproducibility and documentation.

* Engage with multidisciplinary teams, providing bioinformatics expertise to support collaborative research initiatives.

Application Process:

This position will be remote. Candidates should be prepared to share their GitHub handle and present a recent project as part of the interview process.

Required Qualifications:

* M.S. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or a related field, or equivalent industry experience.

* At least five years of experience in bioinformatics, with expertise in Bash, R or Python, RShiny and or Python GUI applications such as streamlit, nicegui, dash, etc.

* Proficiency with cloud-based or high-performance computing environments for bioinformatics workflows.

* Strong experience with tools and best practices for reproducibility, including Git and Docker.

* Proven experience with genomic data types such as single nucleotide variants (SNVs), copy number variants, fusions, RNA expression, methylation, proteomics, and splicing data.

* Commitment to open science practices, including sharing and collaborating on code, data, and documentation.

* Knowledge of pediatric oncology and genomics.

Preferred Skills:

* Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or a related field, or equivalent industry experience.

* Strong organizational and project management skills, with the ability to work on multiple projects and teams.

* Excellent communication skills, with the ability to work in cross-disciplinary teams.

* Eligible to apply for young investigator grant funding.

Organizational Accountabilities
Organizational Accountabilities (Staff)
Organizational Commitment/Identification

• Anticipate and responds to customer needs; follows up until needs are met

Teamwork/Communication

• Demonstrate collaborative and respectful behavior

• Partner with all team members to achieve goals

• Receptive to others' ideas and opinions

Performance Improvement/Problem-solving

• Contribute to a positive work environment

• Demonstrate flexibility and willingness to change

• Identify opportunities to improve clinical and administrative processes

• Make appropriate decisions, using sound judgment

Cost Management/Financial Responsibility

• Use resources efficiently

• Search for less costly ways of doing things

Safety

• Speak up when team members appear to exhibit unsafe behavior or performance

• Continuously validate and verify information needed for decision making or documentation

• Stop in the face of uncertainty and takes time to resolve the situation

• Demonstrate accurate, clear and timely verbal and written communication

• Actively promote safety for patients, families, visitors and co-workers

• Attend carefully to important details - practicing Stop, Think, Act and Review in order to self-check behavior and performance