1. MSc. or B. Tech. or equivalent degree in Biotechnology or related life sciences discipline.
2. Strong aptitude for laboratory work and should be detail-oriented person.
3. Hands-on experience in basic molecular biology techniques.
4. Prior experience in working in a research laboratory or industry.
5. Basic IT skills that include familiarity with Microsoft Office packages.
6. Ability to carry out basic maintenance of general lab equipments and laboratory resources.
7. Ability to maintain accurate records of laboratory work.
8. Willingness to learn, and should be a team player.
Desirable Experience and Skills:
1. Familiarity with NGS technology.
2. Experience in preparation of NGS libraries.
3. Familiarity with Sanger sequencing technology (capillary electrophoresis based)

Remuneration: Remuneration will commensurate with expertise and experience.

How to Apply: Interested applicants fulfilling the criteria may send their detailed CV and a cover letter that explains their suitability for this position, in a single PDF, to Dr. Sreekanth Reddy at careers_bioit@ibab.ac.in. Last date for submission of application is 23rd February 2019. Please mention the position applying for in the subject line of the email.

About IBAB: The Bio-IT Centre at IBAB has state-of-art sequencing facility with the HiSeq 2500 and accessories such as Qubit, Covaris, Agilent 2200 TapeStation, Stratagene Mx 3000 for next generation sequencing, 3500 Dx Genetic Analyzer for capillary electrophoresis based sequencing, and HiScan for microarray imaging. The facility is fully operational and providing services to the scientific community. The Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB) is a unique institute engaged in education, research and entrepreneur support programs and is based at Electronic City, Bangalore. IBAB’s mission is to catalyze the growth of the biotechnology and bioinformatics industries in India. To know more please visit: http://www.ibab.ac.in/index.php/bioit/

The "Ifs" of NGS QC and Trimming

1. Ensures Data Integrity
   If you want to minimize errors in downstream analyses, QC and trimming remove low-quality reads and bases, ensuring high-confidence data. This step is essential for reliable variant calling, assembly, and other applications.

2. Removes Contaminants
   If adapter sequences or contaminants are present in the raw reads, trimming can eliminate them. This prevents issues like misalignment or incorrect biological interpretations, ensuring cleaner data for analysis.

3. Improves Mapping and Assembly
   If your goal is better alignment to a reference genome or improved de novo assembly, trimming low-quality bases and adapters is critical. High-quality reads map more efficiently and generate more accurate assemblies.

4. Reduces Computational Load
   If you want to save computational resources, trimming reduces the dataset size, which speeds up processing and analysis. Clean datasets mean less computational time spent on processing low-quality data.

5. Prepares for Standardized Analyses
   If your project involves multiple datasets, QC and trimming ensure uniformity across them. This standardization makes comparisons valid and reproducible, particularly in large collaborative studies.

The "Buts" of NGS QC and Trimming

1. Risk of Over-Trimming
   But excessive trimming can lead to the loss of informative sequences, reducing read depth and potentially discarding biologically relevant data. This is especially critical in studies with limited sequencing depth.

2. Bias Introduction
   But trimming algorithms might introduce biases, especially if they inadvertently remove sequences with specific biological patterns. This can skew results and compromise biological insights.

3. Loss of Context in Paired-End Reads
   But trimming one read in a pair more than the other can lead to loss of pairing information. This complicates downstream analyses that rely on paired-end data, such as structural variant detection.

4. Time and Resource Intensive
   But running QC and trimming for large datasets can be computationally expensive and time-consuming. As sequencing depth increases, preprocessing becomes a bottleneck in the analysis pipeline.

5. Variable Standards
   But the criteria for trimming (e.g., quality threshold, minimum read length) can vary between tools and datasets. This variability may affect reproducibility and comparability of results across studies.

Balancing the "Ifs" and "Buts"

To maximize the benefits of QC and trimming while mitigating the challenges, consider the following best practices:

• Use QC Tools Wisely: Start with tools like FastQC to identify quality issues in your raw data. Visualizing quality metrics helps tailor your trimming parameters.

• Choose Reliable Trimming Tools: Tools like Trimmomatic, Cutadapt, and BBduk offer adaptive and customizable trimming options. Select one that aligns with your dataset and project goals.

• Set Reasonable Parameters: Avoid over-trimming by setting quality thresholds and minimum read lengths that balance data retention and quality improvement.

• Test Downstream Effects: Validate the impact of QC and trimming on downstream analyses, such as alignment efficiency, variant calling accuracy, or assembly quality.

• Document Your Workflow: Maintain detailed records of the parameters and tools used for QC and trimming. This ensures reproducibility and enables better troubleshooting.

Conclusion

NGS quality control and trimming are essential steps to ensure reliable and accurate data for analysis. While the "ifs" highlight the clear benefits of these steps, the "buts" remind us of the potential pitfalls. By adopting best practices and carefully balancing these considerations, you can optimize your preprocessing workflow and unlock the full potential of your sequencing data.

More at https://software.broadinstitute.org/gatk/download/bundle

ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/organisms/human_9606/VCF/GATK/.

ftp://ftp.broadinstitute.org/bundle/hg38/hg38bundle/

Address of the bookmark: https://console.cloud.google.com/storage/browser/genomics-public-data/resources/broad/hg38/v0?pli=1

http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/

Address of the bookmark: http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/

Lab Page http://gabi.cidbio.org/index/

Initial customers for the HiSeq X Ten System, which will ship in Q1 2014, include Macrogen, based in Seoul, South Korea and its CLIA laboratory in Rockville, Maryland, the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia.

“For the first time, it looks like it will be possible to deliver the $1,000 genome, which is tremendously exciting,” said Eric Lander, founding director of the Broad Institute and a professor of biology at MIT. “The HiSeq X Ten should give us the ability to analyze complete genomic information from huge sample populations. Over the next few years, we have an opportunity to learn as much about the genetics of human disease as we have learned in the history of medicine.”

“The HiSeq X Ten is an ideal platform for scientists and institutions focused on the discovery of genotypic variation to enable a deeper understanding of human biology and genetic disease,” Illumina stated. “It can sequence tens of thousands of samples annually with high-quality, high-coverage sequencing, delivering a comprehensive catalog of human variation within and outside coding regions.”

HiSeq X Ten utilizes a number of advanced design features to generate massive throughput. Patterned flow cells, which contain billions of nanowells at fixed locations, combined with a new clustering chemistry deliver a significant increase in data density (6 billion clusters per run). Using state-of-the art optics and faster chemistry, HiSeq X Ten can process sequencing flow cells more quickly than ever before — generating a 10x increase in daily throughput when compared to current HiSeq 2500 performance.

The HiSeq X Ten is sold as a set of 10 or more ultra-high throughput sequencing systems, each generating up to 1.8 terabases (Tb) of sequencing data in less than three days or up to 600 gigabases (Gb) per day, per system, providing the throughput to sequence tens of thousands of high-quality, high-coverage genomes per year. Illumina says the $1,000 includes typical instrument depreciation, DNA extraction, library preparation, and estimated labor.

We work in a highly interdisciplinary environment at the interface of Computer Science and Biology. Since its inception, our lab has eagerly engaged in collaborative research partnerships with biological and experimental collaborators, facilitated by our affiliation with the Broad Institute and the Computational and Systems Biology initiative (CSBi) at MIT, our participation in the Epigenome Roadmap, ENCODE, and modENCODE consortia, and by several other ongoing collaborations at MIT, Harvard, and the Harvard Medical School affiliated hospitals.

http://compbio.mit.edu/

Main research topics:
- Comparative and Population Genomics of Plant Symbionts
- Parasite Genome Evolution
- Experimental Evolution of Microbial Symbionts and Parasites
- Phylogenomics of Early Branching Fungi

More at http://corradilab.weebly.com/

Current research interests include next-generation DNA sequencing, structural variation, genome rearrangements in cancer and evolution, and network analysis of somatic mutations in cancer. Earlier research included topics in comparative genomics, multiple sequence alignment, and motif finding.

More athttp://compbio.cs.brown.edu/

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/schatzlab/appliedgenomics