A Bioinformatics Analyst position is available within the Bioinformatics Consulting Center at The Pennsylvania State University.

 The position is supported by the Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences and requires the candidate to work with multiple project investigators to design and implement computational pipelines for data produced by high throughput sequencing instruments and others, with particular emphasis on metagenomics and microbiome analyses.

 Responsibilities include the following: developing and/or maintaining existing software pipelines for analyzing high throughput sequencing data; identifying, evaluating and documenting new methodologies to support ongoing research needs; writing code and developing solutions to computational biology problems, with particular emphasis on microbiome and related samples. The Bioinformatics Analyst will become part of an interdisciplinary team composed of other bioinformatics staff, students and researchers and is expected to interact with other life scientists at Penn State and our international partner institutions in Africa and Asia to assist them with identifying research goals, analytical support needs, while carrying out computational data analysis as needed. It is anticipated that approximately 50% of your effort will initially be dedicated to providing bioinformatics support and microbiome analysis pipeline development for high-profile collaborative infectious disease surveillance research and training projects in Tanzania as well as other countries in East Africa and South Asia and may involve a limited amount of international travel (once per year). This job will be filled as a level 3, or level 4, depending upon the successful candidate's competencies, education, and experience. Typically requires a Master's degree or higher in a field of study with focus on computational research methods or higher plus four years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience for a level 3. Additional experience and/or education and competencies are required for higher level jobs. In-depth understanding of the computational analysis required for processing data from genomic technologies and their applications: Microbiome, metagenomics, RNA-Seq, genome assembly, genomic data visualization, or others. Expertise in handling and processing data in common bioinformatics formats; knowledge of available bioinformatics tools and genomic data repositories; proven track record of delivering bioinformatics solutions; demonstrated programming skills in one or more programming languages: Python, Perl, Java, C and/or numerical platforms: R, MATLAB, Mathematica. Experience handling large data sets generated from sequencing instruments. Excellent communication skills. This is a fixed-term appointment funded for one year from date of hire with excellent possibility of re-funding.