BOL: Related items

Statistical for biological research

Neel — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 04:59:48 -0500

There is no disputing the importance of statistical analysis in biological research, but too often it is considered only after an experiment is completed, when it may be too late.

This collection highlights important statistical issues that biologists should be aware of and provides practical advice to help them improve the rigor of their work.

Nature Methods' Points of Significance column on statistics explains many key statistical and experimental design concepts. Other resources include an online plotting tool and links to statistics guides from other publishers.

Address of the bookmark: http://www.nature.com/collections/qghhqm

Junior Research Fellow at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram

Mon, 07 Nov 2016 10:27:06 -0600

Adv. # 22/ 2016
Applications are invited from suitable candidates for one position of Junior Research Fellow in a DST funded bioinformatics research project entitled "Major gene influxes in microbial genome evolution" in the Laboratory of Dr. Shijulal Nelson-Sathi at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS:
We are looking for a motivated candidate with keen interest in bioinformatics and microbial genome evolution. The candidate must have a Master’s Degree in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computer Science, Microbiology, Biology or a related field with good academic record.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS
Hands on research experience on handling next generation sequencing data and phylogenetic reconstruction methods. Excellent programming skills (Perl/Python/Java/Php) and experience in working on Unix/Linux platform is preferred. Furthermore; good knowledge is required in statistics (R/Matlab) and the application of bioinformatics analysis tools.

AGE:
Below 28 years as on 15th November, 2016.

EMOLUMENTS:
Rs. 25,000 + 20% HRA for NET/GATE qualified and Post Graduate in Professional Degree course qualified candidates and
Rs. 12,000/- + 20% HRA for others.

DURATION:
Initial appointment will be given for one year and further extension will be based on the performance till termination of the project.
Only those fulfilling the above criteria need apply and will be called for interview. In the event of more than 10 candidates being short-listed by screening the applications, a written test will be conducted before the selection interview and only those who are successful in the written test will be interviewed. No TA/ DA will be given for appearing in the interview.

Suitably qualified candidates may send applications in the prescribed format (Download here) with a photograph, a copy of full resume indicating the percentage of Marks obtained and attested photocopies of credentials & experience to reach the undersigned on or before 15th November, 2016. Envelopes must be superscripted with abbreviated title of the project, advertisement number and job title. Selection to the position will not entitle the candidate to any future positions at RGCB (permanent or otherwise). As with all project positions at RGCB, the position will be co terminus with end of the project.

Bookmarks Biostatistics materials and books

Jit — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 07:42:42 -0600

Biostatistics did not spring fully formed from the brow of R. A. Fisher, but evolved over many years. This process is continuing, although it may not be obvious from the outside. It has been ten years since the first edition of this book appeared (and rather longer since it was begun). Over this time, new areas of biostatistics have been developed and emphases and interpretations have changed

Please bookmarks your favourate biostatistics books in commend sectons ...

Address of the bookmark: http://www.cos.ufrj.br/~bioestatistica/livros/Introduction%20to%20Biostatistics.pdf

Research Assistant Bioinformatics recruitment in National Institute Of Cancer Prevention & Research (ICMR) on Contract basis

Tue, 15 Nov 2016 17:15:48 -0600

National Institute Of Cancer Prevention & Research - ICMR

Research Assistant Bioinformatics recruitment in National Institute Of Cancer Prevention & Research (ICMR) on Contract basis
Project entitled: “Next generation EGFR inhibitor identification using ligand based QSAR technique”

Essential: M.Sc. in Bioinformatics or related field. Desirable: Experience in QSAR and structure based drug designing.
Age: 28 years
No.of Post: 1

Pay Scale : Rs.27000

Application format is attached and should be sent by post to Dr. Subhash M Agarwal, Scientist D, Division of Bioinformatics, National Institute of Cancer Prevention & Research (ICMR), Plot No. I-7, Sector-39, Noida 201301 (U.P).

More at http://www.icmr.nic.in/icmrnews/NICPR_Advertisement%20for%20RA.pdf

CISA: Contig Integrator for Sequence Assembly

Neel — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 05:42:21 -0600

A plethora of algorithmic assemblers have been proposed for the de novo assembly of genomes, however, no individual assembler guarantees the optimal assembly for diverse species. Optimizing various parameters in an assembler is often performed in order to generate the most optimal assembly. However, few efforts have been pursued to take advantage of multiple assemblies to yield an assembly of high accuracy. In this study, we employ various state-of-the-art assemblers to generate different sets of contigs for bacterial genomes. A tool, named CISA, has been developed to integrate the assemblies into a hybrid set of contigs, resulting in assemblies of superior contiguity and accuracy, compared with the assemblies generated by the state-of-the-art assemblers and the hybrid assemblies merged by existing tools. This tool is implemented in Python and requires MUMmer and BLAST+ to be installed on the local machine. The source code of CISA and examples of its use are available at http://sb.nhri.org.tw/CISA/.

Address of the bookmark: http://sb.nhri.org.tw/CISA/en/CISA

Postdoc at UBritishColumbia in TroutGenomics

Thu, 22 Dec 2016 08:18:46 -0600

Landscape Genomics Postdoc at UBC A research team at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre is seeking a postdoctoral researcher in landscape genetics of native rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

This project is part of a larger Genome Canada project on genetics and physiology of adaptation to climate change in rainbow trout, and the population genomics component is in the labs of Eric Taylor and Michael Whitlock. The landscape genomics component primarily involves whole genome sequencing approaches to understanding the genomic basis of adaptation to features of habitat, but also to provide insights into phylogeography and the influence of watershed structure on population subdivision in rainbow trout. A PhD in a related field with expertise in basic theory and bioinformatic analysis of population genomics data is required.

The position is available for one year with renewal for up to three additional years. Salary is $55,000 per year plus benefits. To apply, please send a brief cover letter summarizing your qualifications for the position, a CV, and the names, addresses, phone numbers and emails of three references.

Review of applications will begin January 16, 2017. Address application materials to etaylor@zoology.ubc.ca to whom any questions can also be addressed. etaylor@zoology.ubc.ca

Progressive Cactus

Jit — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 03:40:06 -0600

v0.0 by Glenn Hickey (hickey@soe.ucsc.edu)

Progressive Cactus is a whole-genome alignment package.

Requirements

git
gcc 4.2 or newer
python 2.7
wget
64bit processor and build environment
150GB+ of memory on at least one machine when aligning mammal-sized genomes; less memory is needed for smaller genomes.
Parasol or SGE for cluster support.
750M disk space

Instructions

IMPORTANT NOTE: Progressive Cactus does not presently support installation into paths that contain spaces. Until this is resolved, you can use a softlink as a workaround: ln -s "path with spaces" "installation path without spaces"

In the parent directory of where you want Progressive Cactus installed:

git clone git://github.com/glennhickey/progressiveCactus.git
cd progressiveCactus
git pull
git submodule update --init
make

It is also convenient to add the location of progressiveCactus/bin to your PATH environment variable. In order to run the included tools (ex hal2maf) in the submodules/ directory structure, first source progressiveCactus/environment to load the installed environment.

If any errors occur during the build process, you are unlikely to be able to use the tool. Please submit a GitHub issue so we can help out: not only will you help yourself, but others who wish to use the tool as well.

Note that all dependencies are also built and included in the submodules/ directory. This increases the size and build time but greatly simplifies installation and version management. The installation does not create or modify any files outside the progressiveCactus/ directory.

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/glennhickey/progressiveCactus

Harvest

Jit — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 10:57:56 -0600

Harvest is a suite of core-genome alignment and visualization tools for quickly analyzing thousands of intraspecific microbial genomes, including variant calls, recombination detection, and phylogenetic trees.

Tools

Parsnp - Core-genome alignment and analysis
Gingr - Interactive visualization of alignments, trees and variants
HarvestTools - Archiving and postprocessing

Citation

Treangen TJ, Ondov BD, Koren S, Phillippy AM. The Harvest suite for rapid core-genome alignment and visualization of thousands of intraspecific microbial genomes. Genome Biology, 15 (11), 1-15 [PDF]

Address of the bookmark: http://harvest.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

Open Positions in Pasini’s lab

Sat, 04 Feb 2017 08:17:18 -0600

Computational Biologists
Open to PhD-student and Post-doc candidates
We are looking for wet and computational biologists to work on an ERC funded project in our
laboratory located at the Department of Experimental Oncology of the European Institute of
Oncology in Milan (Italy). The project will focus on different aspects of the function of Polycomb
Group proteins and other chromatin modifying activities in relation to their role in regulating cellular
identity in the development of adult tissues.
The candidates will be in charge of computational analysis and data management related to the
project. She/he will directly interact with the wet scientists working in our laboratory while working
embedded in the community of computational biologists present at our institution. The work will
involve the analysis of sequencing data produced with cutting edge technologies to study gene
expression and chromatin environment including data produced on rare cell populations and single
cells. The applicants must have a good knowledge of programming in python/perl/java along with
strong statistical background and performing analysis in R platform. A biological background is
also recommended however it’s not mandatory for application.
Each applicant should submit a full CV (with a detailed description of her/his background,
expertise, achievements and publication records) together with a letter of intent and at least two
contacts for recommendations (for a post-doc position). Competitive salary will be offered based
on the experience of the candidate. Non Italian as well as Italian applicants that have been working
outside Italy (>3yrs.) will have the opportunity to benefit of a full tax deduction for the first three
years of contract.
Applications should be submitted as single PDF to diego.pasini@ieo.it

Lab https://www.ieo.it/en/RESEARCH/People/Researchers/Pasini-Diego/

Important Journals, Blogs and Forums for Bioinformaticians

Jit — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 09:15:31 -0600

Journals. Most journals have RSS feeds for their current updates.

Blogs. Some of these blogs are very relevant to bioinfo jobs. Others are more personal interest.

The OpenHelix Blog
Ensembl blog
Galaxy News
Blue Collar Bioinformatics
Homologus
Golden Helix - our 2 SNPs
Genomics Law Report
R-bloggers (aggregates feeds from >350 blogs about R)
Genomes Unzipped
Jason Moore's Epistasis Blog
23andMe - the Spitoon

Variance Explained: David Robinson’s blog (Data Scientist at Stack Overflow, works in R and Python).
Global Biodefense: News on pathogens, outbreaks, and preparedness, with periodic posts on genomics and bioinformatics-related developments and funding opportunities.
In between lines of code: Lex Nederbragt’s blog on biology, sequencing, bioinformatics, …
Simply Statistics: A statistics blog by Rafa Irizarry, Roger Peng, and Jeff Leek.
Bits of DNA: Reviews and commentary on computational biology by Lior Pachter (fair warning: dialogue here can get a bit heated!).
Blue Collar Bioinformatics: articles related tool validation and the open source bioinformatics community.
Microbiome Digest – Bik’s Picks: A daily digest of scientific microbiome papers, by Elisabeth Bik, Science Editor at uBiome.
Living in an Ivory Basement: Titus Brown’s blog on metagenomics, open science, testing, reproducibility, and programming.
Enseqlopedia: James Hadfield’s blog on all things NGS.
Epistasis Blog: Jason Moore’s computational biology blog.
RStudio Blog: announcements about new RStudio functionality, updates about the tidyverse, and more.
nextgenseek.com: Next-Gen Sequencing Blog covering new developments in NGS data & analysis.
RNA-Seq Blog: Transcriptome Research & Industry News.
The Allium: We all need a little humor in our lives. Like The Onion, but for science.

Forums.