The Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS) at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow) is looking for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the area of Computational Biology to work with Dr Leighton Pritchard.

A key focus of this role is software development, as part of an ambitious international team building the genomeRxiv online resource. A demonstrable record of bioinformatics or similar software development (preferably with experience in Python) is essential.

The post holder will collaborate on internationally-leading research in prokaryote evolutionary genomics, as well as development and integration of the established pyani and pdp software tools into genomeRxiv. The main objective of the genomeRxiv project is to provide an online resource centred around a genome-derived prokaryote classification system enabling immediate identification of organisms, and related tools such as integrated molecular diagnostics design. The project is funded through the BBSRC/NSF-BIO scheme (BB/V010417/1), and is in close collaboration with the groups of Prof. Boris Vinatzer and Prof. Lenwood Heath (Virginia Tech), and Prof. C. Titus Brown (UC Davis).

In addition to the core tasks of software development and research, the post holder will promote genomeRxiv and deliver training on use of the service to the research community. Travel to the US to engage with project partners is an expected component of the role. The position is funded until 30th December 2023.

We’re really excited about the potential of this, and how useful it could be across a wide range of microbiology communities. We hope that, if you find this exciting and think you could help do the job with us, you might consider applying.

If you’d like to chat about it, see what the options are and if you might like to join the team (plenty US-UK travel is budgeted in, assuming we can do that again someday!), please get in touch informally – I like talking about this project – at leighton.pritchard@strath.ac.uk.