mixtureS that can de novo identify bacterial strains from shotgun reads of a clonal or metagenomic sample, without prior knowledge about the strains and their variations. Tested on 243 simulated datasets and 195 experimental datasets, mixtureS reliably identified the strains, their numbers and their abundance. Compared with three tools, mixtureS showed better performance in almost all simulated datasets and the vast majority of experimental datasets.

Address of the bookmark: http://www.cs.ucf.edu/~xiaoman/mixtureS/

Interested candidates may email their resume along with a cover letter to careers@arraygen.com

Official website: http://www.arraygen.com/

Reference:

https://www.pacb.com/blog/young-investigators-share-stellar-science-career-advice-and-bioinformatics-tools-at-smrt-leiden-2021/

New Delhi-110012

Walk in interview

Eligible candidates may appear for Walk-in interview for the temporary positions of JRF/SRF/ RA, in ICAR, DBT funded research projects. Positions are purely temporary in nature and are co-terminus with the projects. The initial appointment will be for maximum one year, which can be extended on the basis of assessment of the candidate performance and need in the project work (PI-Dr. N. K. Singh, National Professor).

Name of the

PI (Project)

Name of

Position

Number of

positions

Emoluments

Fixed per

month (Rs.)

Essential

Qualifications

DBT-“Physical Mapping and Sample sequencing of Wheat Chromosome 2A- International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (India)”.

(Up to Nov,2014)

DBT- Identification and functional analysis of genes related to yield and biotic stresses (Up to Oct,2014)

NPTC-Central Facility

RA (Master)

JRF/SRF

Research Associate: One

Essential: MCA or M. Tech. (Bioinformatics and computer Science with 2 years experience in Database Management with

MySQL, Linux)

Desirable: Proficiency in handling of large biological databases

Age limit: Max. Age 35 years (Age of relaxation of 5 years for SC/ST& woman. and 3 years for OBC). The interview will be held on 08 July, 2014 at 11 am at room no. 39, NRCPB, LBS Building, Pusa Campus, New Delhi-110012. The candidates must bring original certificates and four copies of biodata, and recent passport size photograph. No TA/DA would be given for the appearance in interview. Only the candidates having essential qualifications would be entertained for the interviews.

Advertisement:

www.nrcpb.org/sites/default/files/news%20paper%20advirtisment..docx

1. Co-assembly procedure with read mapping for estimation of the abundances of genes in each metagenome
2. Co-assembly of a large number of metagenomes via merging of individual metagenomes
3. Includes binning and bin checking, for retrieving individual genomes
4. The results are stored in a database, where they can be easily exported and shared, and can be inspected anywhere using a web interface.
5. Internal checks for the assembly and binning steps inform about the consistency of contigs and bins, allowing to spot potential chimeras.
6. Metatranscriptomic support via mapping of cDNA reads against reference metagenomes

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/jtamames/SqueezeMeta

Faculty of Science

Essential Qualifications:

(i) Good academic record having at least 55% marks (or an equivalent grade in a point scale wherever grading system is followed) at the Master’s Degree level in a relevant subject, from an Indian University, or an equivalent degree from an accredited foreign University.

(II) Besides fulfilling the above qualifications, the candidates must have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC, CSIR or similar test accredited by the UGC like SLET/SET.

(III) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-clauses (i) and (ii) of clause 4.4.1 of UGC regulations 2010, candidates, who are, or have been awarded a Ph.D. Degree in accordance with the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2009, shall be exempted from the requirement of the minimum eligibility condition of NET/ SLET/ SET for engagement of guest Teacher.

(IV) NET/ SLET/ SET shall also not be required for such Master’s Degree Programmes in discipline for which NET/ SLET/ SET is not conducted.

Application form along with detailed instructions can be downloaded from Tripura University website: www.tripurauniv.in. The duly filled in application forms complete in all respects may be sent so as to reach the Office of the Deputy Registrar Academic Branch, Tripura University, Suryamaninagar - 799022, Tripura on or before 31st July, 2014. The Candidates who responded against advertisement No. TU.REG/N-Advt./02/10 dated 20.02.2014 need not apply again.

For more info visit: http://www.tripurauniv.in/images/universitymedia/EmploymentNotification/Guest%20Teacher%20Advt.%20website_09072014.pdf

Before you go down that path, consider this critical biological question:
Are you sequencing human cells—or bacterial contamination?

The Silent Saboteur: Mycoplasma in Cell Cultures

Mycoplasma contamination remains one of the most widespread and underdiagnosed issues in tissue culture work. Studies suggest that 15–35% of cell lines in use may be contaminated, often without visible signs. Unlike other microbial infections, Mycoplasma does not produce cloudiness, odor, or a change in pH. Many researchers won’t detect it unless they specifically test for it.

The consequences, however, are profound. Mycoplasma can significantly alter:

• Host gene expression patterns

• Cell proliferation rates

• Epigenetic profiles and chromatin accessibility

• Cytokine signaling and immune responses

In short, it can skew your results, compromise your biological conclusions, and invalidate weeks or months of research.

A Simple Diagnostic Step: Map Against Mycoplasma Genomes

If you encounter poor alignment rates to the human genome, consider mapping your reads to a Mycoplasma reference genome—or better yet, use a combined human + Mycoplasma reference. There have been cases where over half of all reads, initially assumed to be from human cells, were in fact bacterial in origin. This check is fast, easy, and could save your project.

How Contamination Happens—and Persists

Mycoplasma is small (0.1–0.3 μm), lacks a cell wall, and can pass through standard filters undetected. Common sources include:

• Contaminated reagents (e.g., FBS)

• Infected cell lines obtained from other labs

• Poor aseptic technique or shared equipment

Once present, it spreads quickly between cultures and can persist for months, silently affecting results.

Why Treatment Is Difficult

While antibiotics such as Plasmocin or BM-Cyclin are sometimes used, they often offer only partial resolution and may themselves alter cell behavior. In many cases, the best course of action is to discard the contaminated culture and start with a fresh, verified stock.

Practical Recommendations for Researchers

• Routinely test for Mycoplasma using PCR, qPCR, or fluorescence-based assays

• Incorporate contamination screens into your sequencing QC pipeline

• Use combined reference genomes when mapping ambiguous reads

• Practice strict aseptic technique and monitor all incoming cell lines

• Don’t ignore unexplained data anomalies—they might point to contamination

Closing Thought: Contamination Is a Biological Variable

It’s easy to view poor mapping as a technical issue, but sometimes the problem lies deeper—in the biology itself. Mycoplasma contamination doesn’t just interfere with sequencing; it interferes with science. As a research community, we must treat contamination not as an afterthought, but as a key variable to control.

So next time your reads won’t align, don’t just tune the aligner. Ask if your cells are telling the truth—or if they're hiding something.

About 8,000 years ago, the gene EGLN1 changed by a single DNA base pair. Today, a relatively short time later on the scale of human history, 88 percent of Tibetans have the genetic variation, and it was virtually absent from closely related lowland Asians. The findings indicate the genetic variation endows its carriers with an advantage.

In those without the adaptation, low oxygen caused their blood to become thick with oxygen-carrying red blood cells, an attempt to feed starved tissues, which could cause long-term complications such as heart failure. The researchers found that the newly identified genetic variation protected Tibetans by decreasing the over-response to low oxygen.

Reference: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7513/abs/nature13408.html

No.of Posts:01 (SC)

Pay Scale:

Pay Band of Rs.15600-39100 + Rs.6000/- GP +NPA @ 25% of Basic Pay +Learning Resource Allowance @ Rs.20,000/-P.A.+ Conveyance Allowance @ Rs. 1650/-P.M.+ Academic Allowance @ Rs.2500/- P.M. and other admissible allowances.

Qualifications:

Area of Specialization:-

Bioinformatics/Computational/Biology/Genomics/ Proteomics/ Structural Biology

1. Postgraduate qualification, e.g. Master’s Degree in Biotechnology/Bioinformatics/ Biophysics.

2. A Doctorate Degree of recognized University/Institute in a basic or allied Medical Science subject e.g. Medical Biotechnology/Biophysics. Bioinformatics/X-ray Crystallography/

Immunology/Structural Biology etc

Experience:

1.Minimum three years teaching and/or research experience in a recognized medical/research Institution in an allied medical subject after obtaining doctorate degree and preferably in Medical

Molecular Biology/ Biophysics/Structural Biology/Genomics and Clinical Proteomics/Computational Biology.

2. Minimum two publication with atleast one in international journal and atleast one as first author

Desirable:-

Consistently excellent scholastic/academic record, demonstrated ability to write grant proposal/(s) successfully, Post Doctoral training in a frontier area of medical Bioinformatics Research and of direct relevance to clinical diagnosis or patient care (preferably from a recognized top-ranking medical institution abroad)

Send your applications to O/O, Deputy Registrar, Recruitment & Establishment Cell, University of Health Sciences, Rohtak by 08.7.2014

For more details,please visit website:http://pgimsrohtak.nic.in/2014%20AP%20Advt.pdf

1.Stupid for biologist: Biology is so complex that it will make bioinformatician feel stupid. There are no any universal fixed rules; it can surprise you any time. So be nice to biologists who ask questions and resolve your biological puzzles. Sometime you will have no idea what the hell you were doing either.

2.Puzzling why: Do not hesitate to ask question. Especially. at the beginning of project you will have to ask a lot of questions. Instead of puzzling it out at end check out and clear your doubt even for a single error. It may can leads to wrong conclusion.

3.Running marathon: The most of the biological software’s documentation is always incomplete. In other word they are no more than 95 percent complete. Sometime a single problem can halt your entire project for months. Compilation and running the pipelines in tedious because almost all are interdependent and need proper configuration. I face the same kind of problem with Evolver :( …

4.Folders missing: The pipelines generate lots of data, and we keep them in several folders for future use. But sometime we delete them by mistake and move to recovery…

5.Digging deeper: Digging deeper is fruitful, but some time it can be catastrophic. You may get frustrated or direction less. So keep a biologist with you for rescue …. Sometime an expert computer programmer to handle your server. Remember, the server will always go down when you need it the most.

The most common frustrating  common line: Why do we do this again?