Research Associate in Bioinformatics

**Job Description**:
**Job Title**:Research Associate in Bioinformatics

**Posting Start Date**:26/02/2025

**Job Id**:853

**School/Department**:School of Medicine & Population Health

**Work Arrangement**:Full Time (On site)

**Contract Type**:Fixed-term

**Salary per annum (£)**:37,999-50,694

**Closing Date**:19/03/2025

The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university.

We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more. Find out more about our benefits (opens in a new window) and join us to become part of something special.

**Overview**

With only ~10% of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients possessing an identified genetic driver, there is a substantial missing heritability which cannot be explained by known ALS genes. In the Cooper-Knock lab, we combine cutting-edge machine learning, with functional genomics techniques including spatial transcriptomics and single-cell sequencing, to power the search for cell-specific genetic drivers of ALS.

**Main duties and responsibilities**
- Undertake research in line with project requirements.
- Manage data collection, analysis and storage on a day-to-day basis.
- Work independently and as part of a team to deliver the research objectives in line with the project outline
- Liaise closely with other academics, advisers and administrators relevant to the study.
- Take a lead role in the analysis, interpretation and writing up of data
- Read and review literature as appropriate.
- Assist in the writing of the project reports and publications.
- Contribute to conference presentations, research advisory group meetings
- Attend and contribute to project/lab meetings and research advisory group meetings.
- Support project reporting requirements, including research project progress reports and finance management and reporting
- work with and support other members of the team, including in the supervision and support of PhD students and MSc students working in the lab
- Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the post

**Person Specification**

Essential criteria
- A PhD in genetics, bioinformatics or a related discipline (applicants near completion of their PhD are welcome to apply) (assessed at: Application)
- Experience using the R programming language and/or Python to perform statistical analyses in large omics data (assessed at: Interview and/or Application)
- Experience of delivering high quality research (assessed at: Interview and/or Application)
- Ability to work effectively within a team and independently (assessed at: Interview and/or Application)
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills necessary to develop and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues within the University and externally, with researchers, clinicians and members of the public involved in the studies. (assessed at: Interview and/or Application)
- Display enthusiasm, motivation and a passion for the research proposal (assessed at: Interview and/or Application)

Desirable criteria
- Experience working on neurodegenerative diseases (assessed at: Interview and/or Application)
- Ability to develop creative approaches to problem solving (assessed at: Interview and/or Application)

**Further Information**

**Grade**:7

**Salary**:£37,099 - £45,585 per annum

**Work arrangement**:Full-time

**Line manager**:Dr Johnathan Cooper-Knock

**Direct reports**:None

For informal enquiries about this job contact

**Next steps in the recruitment process**

**Our vision and strategic plan**

We are the University of Sheffield. This is our vision: sheffield.ac.uk/vision ().

**What we offer**
- A minimum of 41**days annual leave including bank holiday and closure days (pro rata) with the ability to purchase more.
- Flexible working opportunities, including hybrid working for some roles.
- Generous pension scheme.
- A wide range of discounts and rewards on shopping, eating out and travel.
- A variety of staff networks, providing opportunities for social interaction, peer support and personal development (for example, Race Equality, LGBT+, Women’s and Parent’s networks).
- Recognition Awards to reward staff who go above and beyond in their role.
- A commitment to your development access to learning and mentoring schemes; integrated with our Academic Career Pathways and Professional Services Shared Skills Framework
- A range of generous family-friendly policies
- paid time off for parenting and caring emergencies
- support for those going through the menopause
- paid time off and support for fertility treatment
- and more

We are a Disability Confident Employer. If you have a d