Computational Scientist - Chemical Biology

Job description

Job Description

The Chemical Biology & Therapeutics (CBT) group in the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) has the mission of enabling innovative translational drug discovery by using existing and developing novel cutting-edge technologies. The group generates data using all major omics and screening technologies to support disease model characterization, identification of novel therapeutics, and progression of those towards and through preclinical models and clinical trials.

You will be part of Novartis’ commitment to change clinical practice for the better by leveraging modern technologies and analytics to improve how we conduct translational drug discovery research.

We are seeking a highly motivated computational scientist to perform analysis and integration of data from current technologies for molecular profiling and screening. The successful candidate will drive innovation and maintain high quality reproducible research standards with a keen eye towards identifying and disseminating actionable biological information; leading and participating on teams that bring together bench scientists, clinicians, software engineers, statisticians and bioinformaticians to provide high quality analyses of preclinical and clinical data; seeking and incorporating external datasets and external collaborations to further our goals:

1. Provide support and consulting expertise to project teams working with omics technologies or other data intensive methods
a. Ensure study design matches needs of the team
b. Integrate with other internal and external data sources and execute exploratory analysis and reporting
c. Provide biological interpretation in the context of signaling pathways, protein networks and therapeutic focus

2. Contribute to or drive the development of new analytical methods in collaboration with internal or external groups where existing practice is not sufficient to meet our needs
a. Contribute to the team helping to address those unmet needs
b. Collaborative interface to other data expertise groups (engineering, analysis, etc.)
c. Contribute to and help define best practices for implementation and application of analysis methods

3. Independently seek out new sources of data/methods that could be leveraged for CBT/NIBR needs

Main responsibilities:

- Contribute to project progression and decision making through adequate quantitative analyses; ensure timely delivery of project related analyses.
- Work with experimental and computational scientists in CBT and in other departments to set standards, develop tools, algorithms and databases and perform data analysis.
- Contribute to best practice for data extraction, integration and analysis; design, utilize and improve computational tools to respond timely and adequately to generic and specific requests from ongoing projects.
- Enable knowledge-spread and cross-training within CBT.
- Identify, develop, and implement innovative analytical methods that address drug discovery and development needs and gaps to increase productivity in collaboration with internal or external groups.
Position Title

Computational Scientist - Chemical Biology

Desired profile

Minimum requirements

- PhD in a quantitative subject (bioinformatics, cheminformatics, physics, statistics, or similar) supplemented with experience in biology (eg, postdoc); or PhD in wet-bench life sciences supplemented with extensive quantitative training (eg, degree in applied statistics or similar).
- Excellent data analysis skills (ie, accessing, cleaning/transforming, visualizing, analysing, modelling) a must with associated expertise in R and python, Unix/Linux environments, Unix command line tool knowledge preferred.
- Hands-on experience with analysing and interpreting transcriptomics and other NGS data (qPCR, arrays, RNAseq, single cell technologies).
- Demonstrated practical statistical and analytical ability; knowledge of design of experiments is a must.
- Good data visualization skills.
- Basic knowledge of data storage and access technologies including SQL is required.
- Extensive experience in analytical methods as applied to large multi-modal biological datasets.
- Experience integrating different data modalities to gain biological insights; proven track record of high quality novel analytics and actionable biological insights.
- Working knowledge of standard bioinformatics resources and databases.

- Demonstrated ability to establish effective collaborative relationships with cross-functional scientific teams
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; proven ability to work effectively within a team
- Effective prioritization among multiple projects, good organizational and project management skills
- Ability to work as part of an international team in a matrix organization.

Highly desirable

- Basic or advanced skills in (exploratory) statistics are required. This includes the understanding of hypothesis testing, uni/multivariate modelling techniques including fixed/mixed effects linear models, machine learning methods, time course analyses.
- Biology. Knowledge and experience in molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry and cell biology is a strong plus to enable support of CBT labs and projects.
- Experience with cheminformatics and/or genetic screening.
Job Type

Full Time
Country

Switzerland
Work Location

Basel
Functional Area

Research & Development
Division

NIBR
Business Unit

CBT - NIBR
Employment Type

Regular
Company/Legal Entity

Novartis Pharma AG