POSITION DESCRIPTION

The successful candidate will work within the research project “Structural correctness in metagenomics assembly” funded by the Research Council of Finland in the research group of University Lecturer Leena Salmela. We develop models, algorithms and data structures for high throughput sequencing data with a main emphasis on genome assembly. The research group is part of the Algorithmic Bioinformatics lab at University of Helsinki.
The amount of sequencing data has increased enormously during the last decade. To analyze the data efficiently, it needs to be assembled to genomes or represented in a compact manner. However, current tools for assembly and compaction of sequencing data produce sequences with no estimate of their correctness which severely hampers accurate estimation of the correctness of downstream analysis. In this project we will develop novel models for estimating the correctness of genome and metagenome assembly and algorithms and data structures for computing such correctness estimates.
The Doctoral Researcher is expected to:
1. advance the research project together with the project team and
2. conduct doctoral studies and research work leading to a completed PhD thesis within 4 years.
Your work may also include teaching duties (at most 5% of annual working time).

REQUIREMENTS AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

According to the system of the University of Helsinki, all doctoral researchers belong to a doctoral programme. The successful candidate should apply to Doctoral Programme in Computer Science and obtain the study right within the trial period of six months of their employment contract. Please check the admission periods and eligibility criteria to DoCS: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/admissions-and-education/apply-doctoral-programmes/doctoral-school-and-doctoral-programmes/doctoral-programmes-natural-sciences/doctoral-programme-computer-science/admissions-doctoral-studies.
The doctoral researcher should have a master’s degree in computer science or bioinformatics (or a related field) with an emphasis on computational sciences. Prior experience in algorithms is expected. Experience in analysing high-throughput sequencing data is a bonus. Excellent communication skills in English, both verbal and written, are expected.

Please refer the Job description for details