Job Erasmus MC - Bioinformatician microarray data/toxicogenomics

The focus for this bioinformatician will be on the analysis of microarray data from in vivo and in vitro toxicogenomics experiments of the NTC partners; Erasmus MC, department of Genetics (Prof. dr. G.T.J. van der Horst) and RIVM, Laboratorium voor Gezondheidsbeschermingsonderzoek (Prof. dr. H. van Steeg). The appointment will be at the Erasmus MC, but the place of work will be at the UvA, MAD-IBU. The bioinformatician will be part of the MAD Dry-lab, currently consisting of four support bioinformaticians. As such, s/he will be responsible for the entire chain of microarray data analysis of toxicogenomics experiments aimed at (i) understanding the role of the circadian clock in (chrono) toxicity and (ii) biomarker identification for carcinogen risk assessment. The bioinformatician will support biologists by a) their microarray experiment design, b) generating gene lists together with Dry-lab colleagues, and c) interpreting the results together. This not only means applying standard approaches, but most often is a quest to find, implement and use the best bioinformatics tools and methods to analyze the data and answer the biological questions.

Tasks:
• Support life-science researchers with their microarray experiment design;
• Retrieve and store experimental data from local, consortia, or internet sources;
• Analyze microarray experiments by applying a chain of (well-established) analysis tools;
• Interpret microarray results and explore biological relevance together with biologists.

• MSc/BSc in bioinformatics (HBO/WO) or expertise at a comparable professional level (NB: candidates with expertise in molecular biology and informatics who wish to become a bioinformatician are also invited to apply);
• Affinity with life-science research;
• Basic skills in applied biostatistics;
• Good communicative skills.

Appointment will be on a temporary basis for a period of three years. Based on a full-time appointment (36 hours per week), the salary will range from € 2.550,- to € 3.513,- gross per month (scale 9). If your expertise and experience are such that you are able to function at a higher level, a salary according to scale 10 (from € 2.435,- to € 3.860,-) may be negotiable. The conditions of employment are in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement for University Medical Centres (CAO UMC).

Erasmus MC is an internationally recognized center for high-quality, compassionate care, highly rated transfer of knowledge and high-quality knowledge development in the fields of illness and health.

The Netherlands Toxicogenomics Centre (NTC, http://www.toxicogenomics.nl) aims to employ toxicogenomics to increase the basic understanding of toxicological mechanisms towards developing new and better test methods. These should also provide alternatives to animal testing by developing highly predictive screens based on gene expression or protein/metabolite fingerprints, to be used for in-depth evaluation of chemical safety for human health. All this should improve the scientific basis of chemical risk assessment. The NTC is a collaboration of the leading Netherlands institutions in the area of toxicology: RIVM, RIKILT, Leiden University, LUMC, Wageningen University, Erasmus MC, and Maastricht University. The NTC collaborates closely with the Netherlands Bioinformatics Centre (NBIC, http://www.nbic.nl), via the Microarray Department & Integrative Bioinformatics Unit of the University of Amsterdam (MAD/IBU-UvA, http://www.microarray.nl), which is a microarray and bioinformatics expertise center with longstanding experience in e-bioscience and toxicogenomics.

For more detailed information regarding this position you are invited to contact: Dr. Timo Breit, group leader MAD & IBU @ UvA, telephone (+31) (20) 525 7058, e-mail: t.m.breit@uva.nl; Dr. Mirjam Luijten, project leader NTC @ RIVM, telephone (+31) (20) 274 3628, e-mail: Mirjam.Luijten@rivm.nl; or Prof. dr. Bert van der Horst, chair Chronobiology & Health @ Erasmus MC, telephone (+31) (10) 704 3455, e-mail: g.vanderhorst@erasmusmc.nl.

We regret that, due to restrictions in our recruitment budget, we will be unable to consider candidates who are not resident in Europe at the time of application.