PhD studentship in Computational Biology @ UCL

00:09 - Leave a Comment








Fully-funded 3 year position, starting as soon as possible

The opportunity
Recent breakthroughs in sequencing technologies are transforming biosciences. Increasingly, individual laboratories perform de novo genome and transcriptome sequencing efforts. But due to the relatively short length of current reads, assembly remains challenging. The problem is particularly acute with plant genomes because of their large size, polyploidy, and massive gene expansions and contractions.
The successful applicant will contribute to on-going efforts in the lab to exploit orthologous sequences in closely related species to identify split and incomplete genes in draft genome and transcriptome assemblies.
The project is part of a larger collaboration between the Dessimoz Lab at UCL and Bayer CropScience NV (Ghent, Belgium), leading agronomical company, for the development of new methods and resources to better characterise evolutionary and functional relationships between model plant genomes and agronomically-relevant crop genomes. This project will enable more effective crop biotechnology, which is key to ensure food security and sustainable agriculture.
The successful applicant will be provided with strong mentorship and be given ample scientific training opportunities. She or he will based at UCL in the Bloomsbury area of London, but will have the opportunity to do short-term visits to the collaborator in Ghent.
The successful applicant will receive a tax-free stipend of currently £15,726 per annum. There will be additional opportunities to be sponsored for attending international conferences. The PhD study fees will be covered by the project (UK/EU rates).
Profile Sought
  1. Strong (first or upper second class) undergraduate or postgraduate degree in quantitative discipline (bioinformatics, computer science, statistics, mathematics, or related subjects)
  2. High degree of self-motivation
  3. Good ability to work independently and as part of a team
  4. Effective written and oral communication skills
  5. Demonstrated programming skills
  6. Ideally, prior experience in computational biology research

Applicants must be either UK/EU/Swiss nationals or resident in the UK for three years prior to starting the PhD.
How to apply
To apply, please send the following documents as single PDF by email to Dr Christophe Dessimoz (c.dessimoz at ucl.ac.uk):
  1. a covering letter highlighting your reasons for applying and your suitability for this studentship
  2. a copy of your CV
  3. the names and contact details of 2-3 references
  4. if available, links to your Bachelor or Master thesis, publications, code projects (e.g. GitHub repo) are appreciated

To ensure full consideration, applications should be received by 16 Sep 2013 at 5pm UK time.
  • For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Dessimoz to this above address.