Positions Available

Honours undergrad research, and graduate students interested in other projects should contact Fiona Brinkman directly at brinkman@sfu.ca. For other positions listed below, see the instructions associated with each position.

Current positions available

4-Year PhD Studentship in Ireland & Canada
– Systems Biology/Bioinformatics/Genomics

A 4-year Walsh Fellowship PhD studentship is available from September 2009 to work on an internationally collaborative project between Dr. David Lynn at the Teagasc (Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority) Animal Bioscience Centre, Grange, Co. Meath, Ireland and Prof. Fiona Brinkman at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. The successful candidate will be primarily based at the Animal Bioscience Centre but will have the opportunity to spend at least one term at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and will work closely with collaborators at Irish universities.

The project involves the continued development of InnateDB (www.innatedb.com) a systems biology platform for the analysis of the mammalian interactome (Lynn et al, Molecular Systems Biology 2008), to enable bovine systems biology in the post-genomics era, including the prediction and analysis of the bovine interactome, pathways and transcriptional networks and the development of novel computational tools for the analysis of this data. The successful candidate will be strongly encouraged to collaborate with researchers at Teagasc, nationally and internationally in utilising these tools to investigate traits of importance in humans and animals including immunity, fertility and food production.

The ideal candidate will have an honours B.Sc. or M.Sc. in bioinformatics, computational biology, or related subject. Candidates with a background in genetics or a related biological subject with some computational knowledge are also encouraged to apply. Experience with website design / database management (e.g. MySQL) / programming experience (C/C++/Perl/Java) are all highly desired. An internationally competitive student stipend (tax exempt) is available and university fees will be covered.

To apply for this position please send a cover letter, copy of B.Sc. transcript and your CV to Dr. David Lynn by email to lynn-jobs@sfu.ca. The closing date for applications is June 30 2009. We thank all applicants but only those selected for interview will be contacted further.

Further information:
http://www.agresearch.teagasc.ie/animalbioscience/
http://www.pathogenomics.sfu.ca/brinkman/

Database Developer - Bioinformatics & Systems Biology

The Brinkman Laboratory at Simon Fraser University (Greater Vancouver,
B.C., Canada) has an opening for a database developer position as part
of our laboratory's lead role in bioinformatics and the development of
systems biology resources for the highly visible Genome Canada
Pathogenomics Project. This person will take a lead role in the
continued development of InnateDB (www.innatedb.ca), a database and
analysis platform facilitating systems-level analyzes of the immune
response and the entire mammalian interactome.

The successful candidate will work as part of an interdisciplinary team
of software/database developers, bioinformaticians, and biologists,
including our national and international collaborators. Tasks will
include maintenance of the existing database, updating data from external
databases, improving the user interface and the development and
implementation of novel analysis and visualization tools including
software for network-based analyzes.

The qualified applicant will have Bachelor's degree in the computer
sciences. Biology/Bioinformatics experience is preferred but not
essential. The applicant should have strong knowledge of Linux/Unix,
Perl, MySQL. Experience with Java and Struts/JSP would be highly
desirable. Experience with PHP, Javascript or CSS would be an asset.
Previous experience in web/database development would also be highly
desirable or a demonstrated ability to learn quickly based on other
equivalent skills.

Salary is based on experience and is competitive. Please quote "position
GCDD2009-4D" in the subject line of your email if you are interested in
this position and email your resume to:
brinkman-jobs@sfu.ca

We thank all applicants and regret that only those selected for an
interview may be contacted further.

_____________________________________________________

Postdoctoral Position in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology - Immunology
and Infectious Disease

A 2 year postdoctoral research position in bioinformatics/systems
biology is now available at The Brinkman Laboratory at Simon Fraser
University (Greater Vancouver, B.C., Canada). The successful applicant
will join a dynamic, international group of researchers including
experimental biologists, immunologists, bioinformaticians, database and
software developers and systems biologists.

The position involves working as part of this multi-disciplinary team to
use large-scale genomics and system biology approaches to investigate
the regulation and functionality of the human immune response to
infectious agents, and learning how to exploit this knowledge to develop
novel antimicrobial therapies and adjuvants. The position will involve
leading the analysis of large in-house and public gene-expression
datasets on TB, malaria, Salmonella etc together with protein-protein
and protein-DNA interaction network information from our
manually-curated, in-house developed, database – InnateDB
(www.innatedb.ca).

This project has significant funding through two Grand Challenges
in Global Health grants (http://www.innateregulators.com/) and a Genome
Canada grant "The Pathogenomics of Innate Immunity"
(http://www.pathogenomics.ca/) and provides the opportunity
for the successful candidate to work with world-class researchers based
at several different Canadian institutes, and researchers in the US, UK,
Ireland, France, and Australia.

The qualified applicant will have a Ph.D. in a relevant biological
discipline or bioinformatics, plus demonstrated experience in
bioinformatics research. Familiarity with Linux (plus possibly MySQL
and/or Perl/C/C++) would be an asset. Previous experience with large
scale genomic analyses, particularly gene expression analysis or
network analysis would be highly desirable. Knowledge of
microbiology/immunology would also be highly valued.

Salary is based on experience and is competitive. If you are interested
in this position, please forward a copy of your C.V./resume,
start date(s) you'd prefer, and contact information for two references,
to the following email address. Please also use this
email address to make any inquiries about this position:

brinkman-jobs@sfu.ca

Please quote "position GCPP2009-3P" in the subject line of your email
if you are interested in this position. We thank all applicants and
regret that only those selected for an interview may be contacted further.

___________________________________________________

If you are interested in another position that is not advertized, please quote "position BRI2009-A" in the subject line of an email to brinkman-jobs@sfu.ca. Within your email, briefly describe your general area of research interest, the type of position you seek and a date (or range of dates) you'd be available to start on.

Note that all other positions previously advertised have been filled.

Arial view over Simon Fraser University, looking west toward Vancouver

More information for potential applicants:

The Brinkman Laboratory comprises an interdisciplinary computer lab and molecular microbiology lab environment, with access to notable additional resources, including our Pathogenomics Project's Computing Cluster ("Buster the Cluster") and File Server, WestGrid, SFU's "Bugaboos" Computing Cluster, and MBB departmental facilities. The Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (MBB) at Simon Fraser University was formed from the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in the year 2000 and is housed in one of the newer buildings on campus, the South Science Building. The former institute has produced a significant number of prominent bioinformaticists/genomicists who have gone on to become a coordinator of NCBI's Genbank, coordinator or instructor of the Canadian Bioinformatics Workshop, or play leadership roles in international pharmaceutical companies, genome sequence centres and other genomics/bioinformatics facilities. In addition to the department's interest in genomics and bioinformatics, the university has also indicated its strong interest in fostering interdisciplinary health-related research: It formed the Institute for Health Research and Education in 2002, a new Faculty of Health Sciences in 2004, and the technologically outstanding IRMACS facility in 2005 (Interdisciplinary Research in the Mathematical And Computational Sciences - part of our research group is located there).

Simon Fraser University is located atop Burnaby Mountain in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, approximately 5 km from the edge of the city of Vancouver (and a three hour drive north of Seattle, Washington, in the U.S.). In Maclean’s 2008 university rankings, SFU once again placed first among Canada’s 11 comprehensive universities. SFU was listed among Canada’s top 100 employers for 2008 (Mediacorp Canada); named one of Canada’s top 10 family-friendly employers (Today’s Parent magazine) and won the YWCA’s Innovative Workplace of the Year award in 2008 as well. Note that Vancouver has been frequently named one of the "best cities in the world to live" including top North American city in 2009 (see for example, a study ranking Vancouver as the world's most livable city, released in 2005).

Please see Student Central, the MBB graduate studies website and the Bioinformatics program website for more information regarding graduate student admissions, M.Sc./Ph.D. degree requirements, financial assistance, and housing. For those interested in interdisciplinary work, note that the MBB graduate program is flexible, allowing (with permission) students to take courses for their degree from other departments and even other institutions in some cases. Students interested in bioinformatics have a few options including getting accepted in the highly competitive SFU/UBC bioinformatics graduate program (which involves research rotations and you choose your supervisor later in the program, however you get excellent broad-based bioinformatics training). Another option, suitable for those interested in starting on thesis work right away with a specific thesis supervisor, involves completing bioinformatics training through the MBB graduate program or newly forming Bioinformatics program, which several very high caliber students have successfully done (like Jennifer Gardy, Brinkman Lab Ph.D. student and Governor General's Gold Medal winner for top graduate student across all SFU faculties in 2006 - yeay Jenn!).

The city of Vancouver