Job Reference
28_25_LS_CB_RE1
Position
Research Engineer for Computational Biology (RE1)
Fecha de cierre
Jueves, 30 Enero, 2025
Reference: 28_25_LS_CB_RE1
Job title: Research Engineer for Computational Biology (RE1)
About BSC
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.
Look at the BSC experience:
BSC-CNS YouTube Channel
Let's stay connected with BSC Folks!
We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.
We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.
If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.
Look at the BSC experience:
BSC-CNS YouTube Channel
Let's stay connected with BSC Folks!
We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.
We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.
If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.
Context And Mission
The Computational Biology Group (http://life.bsc.es/compbio), within the Life Sciences Department at the BSC, is involved in multiple projects covering several areas of precision medicine, systems biology, network science, and epidemiology.
The Computational Biology group, led by ICREA professor Alfonso Valencia, is looking for a junior research engineer to work in the framework of a project of the Knowledge Generation Projects call for proposals: Health trajectories and the role of sex, gender, aging, and treatments in comorbidities. This project is divided into two main sections. The first focuses on analysing Electronic Health Records from different populations, combining disease diagnoses with drug prescription and administration information. Its main objective is to generate health trajectories, which will allow evaluation of the impact of the co-occurrence of chronic diseases and the co-administration of drugs on the risk of developing secondary diseases. Given that as we age, the risk of multimorbidities (and the consequent co-administration of drugs) increases, this is a fundamental point since it has been described, but not systematically analysed, that the co-occurrence of diseases increases the risk of developing new diseases, putting at greater risk the lives of adults in particular. The second section focuses on providing biological hypotheses to disease co-occurrences using molecular data. More specifically, biological alterations that promote differences in comorbidity relationships between sexes will be analysed. In addition, information on disease-associated mutations will be combined with expression data from different tissues to study, from a molecular point of view, the impact of aging on the risk of developing secondary diseases.
The selected candidate will work in a highly sophisticated High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment, have access to state-of-the-art systems and computational infrastructures, and establish collaborations with international and local experts in different areas of biomedical research.
The Computational Biology group, led by ICREA professor Alfonso Valencia, is looking for a junior research engineer to work in the framework of a project of the Knowledge Generation Projects call for proposals: Health trajectories and the role of sex, gender, aging, and treatments in comorbidities. This project is divided into two main sections. The first focuses on analysing Electronic Health Records from different populations, combining disease diagnoses with drug prescription and administration information. Its main objective is to generate health trajectories, which will allow evaluation of the impact of the co-occurrence of chronic diseases and the co-administration of drugs on the risk of developing secondary diseases. Given that as we age, the risk of multimorbidities (and the consequent co-administration of drugs) increases, this is a fundamental point since it has been described, but not systematically analysed, that the co-occurrence of diseases increases the risk of developing new diseases, putting at greater risk the lives of adults in particular. The second section focuses on providing biological hypotheses to disease co-occurrences using molecular data. More specifically, biological alterations that promote differences in comorbidity relationships between sexes will be analysed. In addition, information on disease-associated mutations will be combined with expression data from different tissues to study, from a molecular point of view, the impact of aging on the risk of developing secondary diseases.
The selected candidate will work in a highly sophisticated High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment, have access to state-of-the-art systems and computational infrastructures, and establish collaborations with international and local experts in different areas of biomedical research.
Key Duties
- Study disease co-occurrence using hypergraphs.
- Analyze omics data to study the role of aging on the development of diseases and comorbidities.
Requirements
-
Education
- Bachelor in biology, biotechnology, medicine, or a degree in science or engineering with sufficient knowledge and interest in biology.
- Or higher vocational education (FPII)
-
Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience
- Previous experience in omics data analysis, network analysis, and basic knowledge of epidemiology.
- High motivation and scientific interest.
-
Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience
- Knowledge and experience in life sciences research.
- Knowledge and some experience in statistics.
- Knowledge and some experience in AI methodologies.
- Programming: R and Python.
- Fluency in spoken and written English
-
Competences
- Good communication and presentation skills.
- Ability to work both independently and within a team.
Conditions
- The position will be located at BSC within the Life Sciences Department
- We offer a full-time contract (37.5h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures
- Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration
- Holidays: 23 paid vacation days plus 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
- Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
- Starting date: asap
Applications procedure and process
All applications must be submitted via the BSC website and contain:
- A full CV in English, including contact details.
- A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.
Development of the recruitment process
The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system ("Concurso-Oposición"). The recruitment process consists of two phases:
- Curriculum Analysis: Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. - 40 points
- Interview phase: The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. - 60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.
The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.
In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.
The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.
At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes. For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact recruitment [at] bsc [dot] es.
For more information, please follow this link.
Deadline
The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired. Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.
OTM-R principles for selection processes
BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R). This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc.
BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.
For more information follow this link
BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.
For more information follow this link