Bioinformatician at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is an international non-profit research-for-development (R4D) organization created in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Our R4D is anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty by reducing producer and consumer risks, enhancing crop quality and productivity, and generating wealth from agriculture. We have more than 100 internationally recruited scientists from about 35 countries and 900 nationally recruited staff based in various stations across Africa. Please visit http://www.iita.org/ for more information on IITA.

IITA and partners have recently embarked on innovative genomics-assisted breeding for seed and clonally propagated crops utilizing next-generation sequencing based genotyping such as GBS, RAD, RNAseq as well as genome sequencing. IITA is also the home of a major genebank for staple crops of sub Saharan Africa. Characterisation of these genetic resources using molecular techniques in addition to field phenotyping is underway.

We are therefore seeking a scientist with strong bioinformatics skills, preferably with a plant science background, to support the ongoing research in collaboration with a team of scientists to assist in analysis and management of genotype and genomics data.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the position of Bioinformatician.

Job Title: Bioinformatician
Ref: R4D/BM/06/13

Location: Ibadan Oyo

Position/Responsibilities:

• Liaise with ICT unit and relevant scientists to develop infrastructure for the bioinformatics lab (hardware and software).
• Develop and implement computational tools that enable efficient access to, and use of genome sequence, linkage map and genotyping data for efficient crop breeding.
• Develop integrated tools to enable linkage of putative markers and quantitative trait loci (QTL) to genome and expression data for candidate gene/marker discovery.
• Use scripting languages (Perl/BioPerl, Phyton, or Java) for automation of storage, organization, and visualization of genotypic and phenotypic data and interfacing with statistical software such as R.
• Collaborate with breeders, pathologists and other scientists in genotyping and applications of genomic prediction into breeding.
• Use bioinformatics tools and resources for storage, visualization, integration and analysis of data.
• Identify, evaluate, and customize web tools and open sources for molecular breeding decision-making support integrated initiatives such as Nextgen Cassava and development of Cassavabase.org
• Publish work in peer-reviewed journals.
• Build bioinformatics capacity of scientists, students, support staff and NARS partners.
• Join and enhance collaborative bioinformatics partnerships with Cornell University, Joint Genomics Institute, the Roots, Tubers and Bananas Research Program and other groups outside IITA.

Educational Qualifications:

The candidate must have a PhD in the fields of biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, computer science, or related fields.

Core Competencies:

• Experience working in the Unix/Linux environment
• Working knowledge of scripting languages such as Perl/Bioperl, Python
• Familiarity with software packages such as SAS, R, structure, joinmap, mapQTL
• Computational analysis of next-generation sequencing data
• Knowledge of concepts in molecular biology, marker technologies, associated genomics analysis (sequence alignment, primer design, similarity search, data mining)
• Knowledge or interest in statistical and quantitative genetics, linkage analysis, QTL mapping, association studies.
• Knowledge of SQL databases is an advantage
• Experience in application of plant bioinformatics to crop improvement is an advantage
• Experience working in developing countries is an added advantage

Duty station: IITA HQ, Ibadan, Nigeria

General information: The appointment is for three years. IITA offers a competitive remuneration package paid in US dollars.

Application Closing Date
4th July, 2013

Method of Application
Interested applicants should forward their applications with detailed curriculum vitae, the names and e-mail addresses of three professional referees which must include either the Head of applicant’s current or previous organization or applicant’s direct Supervisor/Superior officer at work and evidence of current remuneration package and photocopies of credentials, to IITA Website.

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