Postdoc Bioinformatics - NIOO-KNAW - Wageningen

Are you a dedicated bioinformatician with a passion for meta-analyses, molecular biology and natural product discovery? In a joint project between the Department of Microbial Ecology at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and the Bioinformatics department of the Wageningen Microbiome Centre, we are looking for a bioinformatician who will design a database to catalogue and analyse a large bacterial culture collection to discover new microbial gene clusters and functional traits.

Microbial culture collections serve as an enormously valuable resource for fundamental scientific research, natural product discovery, and the development of sustainable strategies for plant protection against (a)biotic stresses. We have recently acquired a large collection of bacterial strains and associated metadata, including genome sequences and phenotypic data. The overall goal of this 2-year postdoc position is to catalogue and enable this collection and the metadata as an accessible global public database for scientific research.

This project is part of a larger research initiative between NIOO-KNAW and the Wageningen Microbiome Centre, which will provide ample opportunities for collaboration.

What you will be doing

In this position, you will design a database to catalogue and analyse a large bacterial culture collection to discover new microbial gene clusters and functional traits.

You will be responsible for:

• Catalogue and integrate the curated bacterial collection and associated metadata in a dedicated database to make the collection and metadata FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, re-usable) and available for automated querying.
• Mine the genomes and metadata of the collection by diverse bioinformatic tools and pipelines (e.g., MIBiG, antiSMASH, dbCAN, bacLife, …) and perform multivariate statistics and machine learning to connect genomic traits to biological activities.
• Supervise/mentor MSc and PhD students as well as the research assistant appointed on this project.
• Report and publish obtained results from the bioinformatic analyses.

What will you be contributing?

You bring experience in:

• bioinformatics, computer science or a related discipline
• machine learning algorithms and multivariate statistics
• database design and management
• genome mining
• initiating collaborations
• supervision/mentoring of PhD/MSc students and research assistants

Who are we looking for?

A self-reliant and proactive team player who works accurately, can plan efficiently, can take the lead in project management, can initiate collaborations with colleagues at NIOO and WMC, and enjoys working together in a diverse and multidisciplinary team.

About NIOO

The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO) is a national research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). At NIOO we perform ecological research on biodiversity, climate change and sustainable use of land and water. We stimulate ecological research in the Netherlands and share our ecological knowledge with society.