Dr. Rawal and his US based collaborators have recently secured grant for development of vaccine against an infectious disease agent. For this project, applications are invited for the posts of Post Doctoral Fellow/Research Scientist (One Position) for the following time-bound sponsored projects as per the details given below:

PI: Dr. Kamal Rawal, Biotechnology Department, JIIT, Noida.

Essential Qualification(s) for Post Doctoral Fellow/ Research Scientist:

We are seeking an individual with expertise in analyzing literature information, text mining, network biology, data integration, and modeling. Competitive candidates would also have programming experience in scripting languages with perl, C, C++, and R programming. This position requires a PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Physics or related fields, and evidence of scientific productivity through publications in international journals. Motivation to gain an in-depth understanding of biological phenomena is required. Applications should include a current CV and names of at least three references. Application packages and inquiries regarding this position can be sent to Dr. Kamal Rawal (bioinfocvatgmaildotcom and kamaldotrawalatgmaildotcom). Screening of applications will commence immediately and the position will remain open until filled. Candidates having master’s degree with extensive experience in IT industry or research can also be considered for this post.

Salary: Rs 50000 per month.

Duration: 2 years or upto the project duration.

Number of position: 1

Candidate may also fill the following form:

https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdZoZ21ZoNRStEeL5…/viewform

http://tinyurl.com/bioinfocv2017

Research with the help of bioinformatics with a trans-disciplinary approach is yielding good results.

http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/research/research-with-help-of-bioinformatics-helpful/article2295629.ece

Professionally, Python is great for backend web development, data analysis, artificial intelligence, and scientific computing. Many developers have also used Python to build productivity tools, games, and desktop apps, so there are plenty of resources to help you learn how to do those as well.

For pros and cons visit http://www.bestprogramminglanguagefor.me/why-learn-python and http://bioinformaticsonline.com/discussion/view/459/python-vs-perl

More resources at https://github.com/CodementorIO/Python-Learning-Resources

Following are the list of useful python programming resources:

• 20 Python Libraries You Aren't Using (But Should) (Just fill the fields with any values)
• A Beginner's Python Tutorial
• A Byte of Python (3.x) (HTML, PDF, EPUB, Mobi)
• A Guide to Python's Magic Methods - Rafe Kettler
• A Whirlwind Tour of Python - Jake VanderPlas (PDF) (EPUB, MOBI)
• Automate the Boring Stuff - Al Sweigart
• Biopython (PDF)
• Build applications in Python the antitextbook (3.x) (HTML, PDF, EPUB, Mobi)
• Building Machine Learning Systems with Python - Willi Richert & Luis Pedro Coelho, Packt. (Just fill the fields with any values)
• Building Skills in Object-Oriented Design (Python) (PDF) (2.1.1)
• Building Skills in Python (PDF) (2.6)
• Code Like a Pythonista: Idiomatic Python
• CodeCademy Python
• Composing Programs (3.x)
• Data Structures and Algorithms in Python - B. R. Preiss (PDF)
• Dive into Python 3 - Mark Pilgrim (3.0)
  • Dive into Python - Mark Pilgrim (2.3)
• From Python to NumPy
• Full Stack Python
• Functional Programming in Python (Just fill the fields with any values)
• Fundamentals of Python Programming - Richard L. Halterman (PDF) (3.2)
• Google's Python Class (2.4 - 2.x)
• Google's Python Style Guide
• Hacking Secret Cyphers with Python - Al Sweigart (3.3)
• Hadoop with Python (Just fill the fields with any values)
• High Performance Python (PDF)
• Hitchhiker's Guide to Python! (2.6)
• How to Make Mistakes in Python - Mike Pirnat (PDF) (1st edition)
• How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python, Interactive Edition (3.2)
  • How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python - Allen B. Downey, Jeff Elkner and Chris Meyers (2.4)
  • Think Python - Allen B. Downey (2.x & 3.0)
• Intermediate Python - Muhammad Yasoob Ullah Khalid (1st edition)
• Introduction to Programming with Python (3.3)
  • Introduction to Programming Using Python - Cody Jackson (1st edition) (2.3)
• Introduction to Python - Kracekumar (2.7.3)
• Invent Your Own Computer Games With Python - Al Sweigart (3.1)
• Learn Python, Break Python
• Learn Python in Y minutes
• Learn Python The Hard Way (2.5 - 2.6)
• Learn to Program Using Python - Cody Jackson (PDF)
• Learning Python - Fabrizio Romano, Packt. (Just fill the fields with any values)
• Learning to Program
• Lectures on scientific computing with python - J.R. Johansson (2.7)
• Making Games with Python & Pygame - Al Sweigart (2.7)
• Modeling Creativity: Case Studies in Python - Tom D. De Smedt (PDF)
• Natural Language Processing with Python (3.x)
• Non-Programmer's Tutorial for Python 3 (3.3)
  • Non-Programmer's Tutorial for Python 2.6 (2.6)
• Picking a Python Version: A Manifesto (Just fill the fields with any values)
• Porting to Python 3: An In-Depth Guide (2.6 - 2.x & 3.1 - 3.x)
• Practical Programming in Python - Jeffrey Elkner (PDF)
• Problem Solving with Algorithms and Data Structures using Python - Bradley N. Miller and David L. Ranum
• Program Arcade Games With Python And Pygame (3.3)
• Programming Computer Vision with Python (PDF)
• Python 2 Official Documentation (PDF, HTML, TEXT) (2.x)
• Python 2.7 quick reference - New Mexico Tech (2.7)
• Python 3 Official Documentation (PDF, EPUB, HTML, TEXT) (3.x)
• Python Cookbook - David Beazley
• Python Data Science Handbook - Jake VanderPlas (HTML, Jupyter Notebooks)
• Python for Econometrics - Kevin Sheppard (PDF) (2.7.5)
• Python for Everybody Exploring Data Using Python 3 - Charles Severance (PDF, EPUB, HTML)
  • Python for Informatics: Exploring Information (2.7.5)
• Python for you and me (2.7.3)
• Python for you and me (3.x)
• Python Idioms (PDF)
• Python in Education (Just fill the fields with any values)
• Python in Hydrology - Sat Kumar Tomer
• Python Koans (2.7 or 3.x)
• Python Module of the Week (3.x)
  • Python Module of the Week (2.x)
• Python Notes for Professionals - Compiled from StackOverflow documentation (3.x)
• Python Practice Book (2.7.1)
• Python Practice Projects
• Python Programming (PDF) (2.6)
• Scipy Lecture Notes
• SICP in Python (3.2)
• Snake Wrangling For Kids (3.x)
• Suporting Python 3: An In-Depth Guide (2.6 - 2.x & 3.1 - 3.x)
• Test-Driven Web Development with Python (3.3 - 3.x)
• Text Processing in Python - David Mertz (2.3 - 2.x)
• The Coder's Apprentice: Learning Programming with Python 3 - Pieter Spronck (PDF) (3.x)
• The Definitive Guide to Jython, Python for the Java Platform - Josh Juneau, Jim Baker, Victor Ng, Leo Soto, Frank Wierzbicki (2.5)
• The Little Book of Python Anti-Patterns (Source)
• The Programming Historian - William J. Turkel, Adam Crymble and Alan MacEachern
• The Python Ecosystem: An Introduction
• The Python GTK+ 3 Tutorial
• The Standard Python Library - Fredrik Lundh
• Think Complexity - Allen B. Downey (2nd Edition) (PDF, HTML)
• Web2py: Complete Reference Manual, 6th Edition (pre-release) (2.5 - 2.x)
• Wikibooks: Python Programming (2.7)

The most common newbie questions are:

Should I try to use these free open source programs?  Why are we not trying GUI software for computational analysis? Should I use commercial bioinformatics programs/software?”

1. Let’s be open

We generally think free and cheap are useless. But this concept is not applicable when we discuss open source software. Mostly, the bioinformatics software is developed by highly competitive biological programmers who believe in open sharing of knowledge. They come under Open Bioinformatics Foundation or O|B|F which is a non-profit, volunteer run organization focused on supporting open source programming in bioinformatics. The best part about open source tools/software is that they’re free to download the source code and read exactly what the program does. If you are so inclined, you can view all of the parts of the program and see the logical flow of the pipeline. In addition, open source makes an excellent learning tool for any beginning bioinformatician. Moreover, you can modify existing open source programs to deal with cutting-edge problems or to customize your pipeline. Apart from your computational and analysis work, most of the reviewer also prefers the open source based results so that they can validate the results if validation required.

2. Code headache

As a bioinformatician you are supposed to know the basics of programming languages, and if you are not good at it, then please learn it as soon as possible because you are not a bio-analyst but biological programmers. The open source programs usually lack dedicated service and support teams (often because they were the product of an overworked doc/postdoc!) so you are responsible for troubleshooting your own errors most of the time. We commonly receive the HELP email to support and assist to setup the pipeline; you can also find this kind of request on any QA forum. I personally believe this coding horror brings the biggest downside of open-source programs; where you need some programming skills in order to implement the program in your pipeline. But, if you are not able to fix the pipeline and modify the open source code according to your requirements them you should re-think on your bioinformatician name tag!!!

3. Dive into the codes

Some of the biologist turn bioinformatician says “if you can do the same thing with commercial software then why to get migraine with weird codes”, well this statement looks to me that guys are keen to learn swimming but still don’t like to get wet. If you are still using paid software and doing your work by customer support and clicking some of the well-designed GUI button then perhaps you are not interested in learning and trying new and challenging bioinformatics works. You are missing the basic flavour of bioinformatics. Let’s dive into the coding world, I am sure your will enjoy it. I recommend your to swim freely in code’s sea, and enjoy the journey; do not merely watch it from the outside.  

4. Paid does not mean better

The bioinformatics company which are specializes in bioinformatics solutions develop well designed/packed, user friendly software by using a large number of specialised scientist, programmers and support staff. They also provide good services to accomplice your biological analysis work. This means that if you hit a ‘snag’ with your data, help is likely only a phone call away! These companies price their products competitively against the cost of a dedicated bioinformatician. You may be able to afford the program, but not the additional staff! Additionally, most of the functionality that you need in your analysis is already coded into the program. Need to plot a graph? Just click this button right here. It is that easy. But, as a bioinformatician this is not generally well encouraged approach in biological analysis work, because the software is not available to everyone and your data can’t be validated. Moreover, there is very less chances that anyone will repeat your work or love to do similar kind of research (because not all the labs in the world are rich like yours).

5. Take a caution

In biological analysis work, in which you deal GB/TB of data are having maximum chances of getting errors, so please be careful and always cross check your data before coming to any conclusion. Even an error in two line code can alter your entire analysis and display weird results. Some of the scientist blindly believes on commercial software, which is entirely wrong. Using proprietary tools does not absolve you of the need to actually read and research the type of analysis that you are doing. This is particularly true in the case of genome assembly and annotation.

At the end, I would like to tell only one think that open source solutions allows you to do more cutting edge analysis than the commercial tools. So let’s go for it.

Disclaimer:

This is my personal view. I have nothing to do with any company or open source community. The views expressed on these pages are mine alone and not those of my current/past employers. I do reserve the right to remove comments left by spammers or off-topic comments.

In this tutorial series article, I will explore features and packages of python which are widely used in the big data, NGS, and bioinformatics. I will also walk through a real biological example which shows NGS data processing with the help of python packages and programming.

Python has a couple of points to recommend it to biologists and scientists specifically:

• It's widely used in the scientific community
• It has a couple of very well designed libraries for doing complex scientific computing (although we won't encounter them in this book)
• It lend itself well to being integrated with other, existing tools
• It has features which make it easy to manipulate strings of characters (for example, strings of DNA bases and protein amino acid residues, which we as biologists are particularly fond of)

In general, following are some of the important features of python which makes it a perfect fit for rapid application development.

• Python is interpreted language so the program does not need to be compiled. Interpreter parses the program code and generates the output.
• Python is dynamically typed, so the variables types are defined automatically.
• Python is strongly typed. So the developers need to cast the type manually.
• Less code and more use makes it more acceptable.
• Python is portable, extendable and scalable.

There are two major Python versions, Python 2 and Python 3. Python 2 and 3 are quite different. This tutorial uses Python 3, because it more semantically correct and supports newer features.

I will post tutorial on daily basis on this page. Check the sub-pages on right side.

Genomics England will play a key role in building on the UK’s long track record as leader in medical science advances to push the boundaries by unlocking the power of DNA data. The UK will become the first ever country to introduce this technology in its mainstream health system – leading the global race for better tests, better drugs and above all better, more personalised care.

http://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/100k-genome-project/

Introduction to bioinformatics is a course for biologists and clinicians that would like to learn more about the way bioinformatics is used in healthcare, biotech and pharmaceuitcal industry as well as basic research. The course covers many of the topics transformed by the emergence of big data and computational technologies. To learn more about the course, visit: https://edu.t-bio.info/course/introduction-bioinformatics/

SciGenom Research Foundation (SGRF) and Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) are pleased to host the Next-Generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics for Genomics & Healthcare conference.

In the ten years since the first human reference genome was completed for US$3 billion the sequencing technologies have radically changed leading to great reduction in sequencing cost. Today a human genome can be sequenced for under US$ 5000 in less than two weeks. It is expected that by the end of 2015 the cost of sequencing a human genome will drop to below thousand dollars. The next generation sequencing technologies over the past five years have enabled a large number of genomic studies that impact human health and disease. Also, this has made possible the growth of microbial, animal and plant genomics studies. While the data production has increased at a rapid pace challenges remain in analyzing and understanding the data. The conference will cover the next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, bioinformatics for NGS and applications of NGS in many areas including personalized medicine.

For more info : http://www.scigenomconferences.com/2013/default.php

To read more about this collaboration, visit: https://edu.t-bio.info/pine-biotech-joins-forces-with-the-bioclues-organization-to-promote-bioinformatics/

Candidates must have: a PhD degree in statistics, biostatistics or bioinformatics, extensive experience in analyzing high-dimensional data (microarray, SNP, CNVs) and of validation approaches. In addition, experience in penalized regression methods, data base manipulation; and strong programming skills in order to conduct Monte Carlo studies and applications (R). Candidate must have excellent communication skills (verbal, written and presentation), a strong proficiency in Linux system.

This position is available immediately and will be filled as soon as possible. Appointment could be extended beyond the first year based on additional funding.

For more information about the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, please visit our website: http://www.biostat.duke.edu.

For more info: http://biostat.duke.edu/sites/biostat.duke.edu/files/Halabi%20-%20Postdoc%20Job%20Posting%202013%20updated.pdf

Duke University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.