ICRISAT Sorghum Genomics Project Scientist Job Vacancy

Special Project Scientist – Sorghum Genomics

ICRISAT is seeking applications from Indian Nationals for a Special Project Scientist to work on a sorghum genomics activities related to sequencing/re-sequencing projects utilizing New Generation Sequencing platforms. This is a core activity and caters to several projects and strategic initiatives of Research Program on Dryland Cereals at ICRISAT. The Scientist will be part of an ICRISAT team, comprising breeders, seed system analysts, biotechnologists and socio-economists working together as part of the ICRISAT global research team. He/she will also work closely with and report to sorghum genomics scientist who will assist in providing the necessary oversight and backstopping for the project activities. The incumbent will report to Scientist (Sorghum Molecular Breeding) and will be based at ICRISAT Headquarters near Greater Hyderabad, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Position description: The Sorghum Genomics Group at ICRISAT is involved in conducting genomics research, especially utilizing New Generation Sequencing platforms for generating genetic & genomic knowledge leading to improved sorghum productivity under climate change scenarios. This is achieved by deciphering the crop adaptation mechanisms/traits and identifying target marker-trait associations utilizing several germplasm panels across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa in collaboration with several international groups. Recent work within the group on application of genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) approaches (Morris, Ramu et al., PNAS 2013) has lead identification of several marker-trait associations for important adaptation traits in sorghum. The position will build on these findings and work in utilizing existing and/or developing new analytical pipelines for furthering this research area. We also foresee an active involvement and major role of this position in re-sequencing and transcriptomics projects (experimental design through analysis) that will be planned during the tenure of the position. As a member of a dynamic crop improvement team, the researcher will have the opportunity to analyze large volume and diverse datasets to address specific biological questions.

The Job:

• Advancing the SNP-discovery and polymorphism assessment work across several germplasm panels representing global genetic diversity
• Population genetic and genomic analyses, testing the hypothesis related to adaptation in multiple geographic regions
• Develop SNP assays from large scale GBS and other re-sequencing data for several target traits utilizing available phenotyping data
• Combined analyses of genotypic and phenotypic data for discovery of marker-trait associations, and conducting GWAS
• Processing, analyzing, and archiving large-scale genomic data sets, assessing data quality, conducting analyses, interpreting findings, and communicating findings to others including preparation of reports, presentations, posters and journal articles
• Providing support to MSc and PhD students on topic related to its major core of research
• Any other work assigned by the supervisor

The Person:

• PhD in bioinformatics, genetics, computational biology preferably with 1 to 2 years of experience;
• familiar with standard bioinformatics tools and scripting languages and emerging and evolving software platforms relevant to bioinformatics and computational biology;
• ability to create new analytical pipelines; experience with handling large data sets;
• ability to program in at least two of the following: C++, PERL, Python, R, Java.
• will use next-generation sequencing technologies to generate marker data for genetic mapping and transcriptome data for expression QTL mapping, and will be responsible for data generation as well as data analysis.

Period and Remuneration: The assignment is for a period of two years, and can be extended for another year depending on performance. ICRISAT pays a very attractive all inclusive lump sum assignment fee payable in Indian Rupees.

How to Apply: Please send your application by email to icrisatjobs@cgiar.org, stating the job title (Special project Scientist-Sorghum Genomics) clearly in the subject column, addressed to the Director, Human Resources and Operations, ICRISAT, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India, latest by 10 June 2014. The application should include an up-to-date Curriculum Vitae, a short statement of competencies and experience for the position, and the names and addresses (including phone/e-mail) of three referees. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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