Senior Computational Biologist presso Northeastern

About the Opportunity

About the Institute for Experiential AI and Northeastern University

Do you want to be part of an exciting new Institute focused on combining human and machine intelligence into working AI solutions?

We have launched a pioneering research and innovation hub in AI—one that will shape the way humans and machines collaborate for decades to come. Led by Prof. Alan Mislove, the Institute for Experiential AI is built around the challenges and opportunities made possible by human-machine collaboration. The Institute provides a framework to design, implement, and scale AI-driven technologies in ways that make a true difference to society. Our ability to respond to the opportunities afforded to society will depend on training and building a workforce that is AI-capable and prosperous. 

Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experience-driven lifelong learning. Our world-renowned experiential approach empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create impact far beyond the confines of discipline, degree, and campus.

The Culture

Here at the Institute for Experiential AI (EAI) we are committed to the highest standards in all that we do. Working at the EAI offers opportunities, an environment, and a culture that just aren’t found together anywhere else. This is the right place for you if you’re curious, motivated by the future of technology, and want to be part of a unique and diverse community that works on high-impact research, educational, business, and societal problems.

Position Summary

The Senior Computational Biologist will report to Ayan Paul, Research Associate Professor at EAI and collaborate with Scientists and Clinicians from other institutions such as Harvard Medical School, MD Anderson Cancer Research Center, and University. Of Virginia. Responsibilities will include supervising development and maintenance of bioinformatics pipelines, mentoring students and junior bioinformaticians in the Neural Dynamics Lab on computational biology and bioinformatics, guiding the conceptualization and completion of analyses, data preprocessing and development of machine learning models, etc. There will be opportunities to co-author publications and contribute to grant proposals. Tentative start date: November 2025 for 6 months with possibilities of renewal. This work will contribute towards the understanding of genetic origins of and regulation of alternative splicing in complex diseases like Small Cell Lung Cancer, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and the development of cutting-edge machine learning based methodologies for regulation of mRNA splicing.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics or related fields.
• A minimum of 2 years of postdoctoral experience in related areas of computational biology.
• Proficiency in Python and R with more than 5 years of experience in each. Experienced with Unix and remote computing clusters.
• Have demonstrable expertise in bioinformatics, especially genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and/or metabolomics, and have a good grasp of statistics.
• Experience with machine learning (hands on work)
• Experience working with genomics databases such as ENCODE, GTEx and familiarity with RNA-seq, eCLIP, scRNA-seq and other data is required.
• Familiarity with protein bioinformatics (understanding of protein structure and function).
• Experience working lung diseases, especially lung cancer.
• An ability to write clean and well-documented code and work with Github repositories.
• Excellent organizational skills including attention to detail and multitasking.
• An ability to troubleshoot and problem-solve in response to challenges, especially, in an unfamiliar domain.
• Experience with mentoring students and/or teaching is an added bonus

Values & Abilities:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to communicate effectively with a variety of different stakeholders from various academic backgrounds.
• Respect for diversity and the importance of interdisciplinary teams.
• Self-starter and innovative thinker and a team-player who can collaborate effectively in a university setting.
• Open-minded, assertive, and professional when collaborating and working within our team and with other groups within Northeastern University, Harvard Medical School, MD Anderson Cancer Research Center, and University of Virginia. 

Key Responsibilities:

The Senior Computational Biologist will be responsible for a wide variety of data-oriented tasks, including:

• Building ETL pipelines for genomics/transcriptomics data from public databases and processing them with publicly available codes in python and R.
• Documenting the entire process and all the codes generated and maintaining structured and regular commits in a Github repository.
• Implementing machine learning models and automating the processing of input data.
• Write reports/prepare slide decks describing work performed.
• Contribute to scientific manuscripts and grant proposals where appropriate.
• Mentor students and junior bioinformaticians in the Neural Dynamics Lab

Position Type

Additional Information

Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work experience, education and skills when extending an offer.  

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Pay Rate: