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Computational Biology – School of Medicine (F69030)

Employer
Virginia Commonwealth University
Location
Virginia, United States
Salary
Salary Not Specified
Date posted
Feb 17, 2022


Mission or Goal of Unit:

Virginia Commonwealth University is a premier urban, public research university with a diverse student body and both research-intensive and community-engaged designations from the Carnegie Foundation. Located in historic Richmond, Virginia, VCU enrolls more than 31,000 students on two campuses.

The mission of the School of Medicine is to provide preeminent education to physicians and scientists in order to improve the quality of health care for humanity. Through innovative, scholarly activity and a diverse educational context, the School seeks to create and apply new knowledge, and to provide and continuously improve systems of medical and science education. Furthermore, it is our mission to develop more effective health care practices to address the needs of the diverse populations we serve, and to provide distinguished leadership in the advancement of medicine and science.

The mission of the Massey Cancer Center is to improve the lives of all Virginians by delivering cutting-edge cancer care through patient-centered prevention and treatment; high-impact, innovative research; community input and engagement; and education and training of the next generation of researchers and healthcare professionals. The vision of Massey is to be a premier community-focused cancer center leading the nation in cancer health equity and ensuring optimal health outcomes for all.

Chief Purpose of this position:

As a member of the cancer center, the faculty member will undertake cancer research activities that are aligned with MCC vision and mission: to improve the lives of all Virginians by delivering cutting-edge cancer care through patient-centered prevention and treatment; high-impact, innovative research; community input and engagement; and education and training of the next generation of researchers and healthcare professionals. The vision of Massey is to be a premier community-focused cancer center leading the nation in cancer health equity and ensuring optimal health outcomes for all.

As a faculty member in the department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the school of Medicine, the candidate will also support the department with teaching responsibilities including team-teaching medical and graduate levels courses. The candidate will be responsible for training and being a mentor to graduate students seeking M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. The candidate will serve as members of departmental as well as university wide service committees.

This Assistant Professor position is focused on Computational Biology/Bioinformatics/Drug Discovery in the cancer area and will work closely with Dr. Said Sebti in the Massey Cancer Center at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. The candidate must have a proven track record in computational biology/bioinformatics as it relates to genome/proteome-scale research including differential gene/protein expression, protein phosphorylation, pathway analysis to support drug discovery projects. The candidate will use computational/bioinformatic approaches to understand the mechanism by which cancer cells become addicted to the oncogene KRAS and based on this knowledge identify genetic, genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic molecular signature that will lead to novel diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic approaches to thwart KRAS-driven human cancers. The research focus of Dr. Sebti’s laboratory is to understand at the basic science level how normal cells become malignant, with a focus on KRAS-driven cancers, and to translate such fundamental knowledge to the clinic. Candidates will be involved in exciting and highly integrated inter-disciplinary research projects concerning understanding aberrant oncogenic KRas signal transduction pathways in cancer and designing novel anti-cancer drugs based on this knowledge. In addition, candidates will be expected to submit grant applications for peer-reviewed extramural funding.

Position Responsibilities:

Research: Undertake cancer research activities that are aligned with MCC vision and mission. Submit and obtain peer-reviewed grants preferably R-type grants from NCI. Publish manuscripts in high impact journals. Work closely with Dr Sebti so as to harness the considerable intellectual talent and scientific resources of VCU and focus them on solving the nation’s cancer problem.

Teaching and Mentoring: Support the department of pharmacology and toxicology with teaching responsibilities including team-teaching medical and graduate levels courses. Train and mentor graduate students seeking M.S. and Ph.D. degrees.

Service: Serve as member of departmental as well as university wide service committees.

Required Qualifications:
  • Ph.D in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology or a closely related field.
  • 8 or more years of research experience in the fields of bioinformatics, computational biology, systems biology, proteomics, and/or genomics.
  • A deep understanding of Ras signal transduction pathways with experience in investigating the mechanism of KRAS addiction of cancer cells.
  • Extensive publication record.
  • Proven trainee and faculty mentorship skills.
  • Track record working in multi-disciplinary fields.
  • Demonstrated experience working in and fostering a diverse faculty, staff, and
    student environment or commitment to do so as a faculty member at VCU.
Preferred Qualifications:
  • Design and analysis of genome/proteome-scale research including differential gene/protein expression, pathway analysis
  • Analysis and interpretation of high-dimensional data, including genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic datasets. RNA-seq data analysis to generate gene clusters using a combination of dimensionality reduction analysis (t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) and Fuzzy C-means.
  • Using R and/or Python, Linux and cloud computing systems to develop robust statistical methods and algorithms and drive data mining efforts.
  • Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) use to identify initial gene clusters, using Enrichr, ENCODE, GO, KEGG to generate signal transduction pathways.
  • Experience in cancer research field and/or drug discovery.
  • Experience working in a matrix environment within academic medicine.
  • Proven success in collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams.
Position Type: Teaching & Research Faculty
Full time equivalent: 100
Tenure: Ineligible
Rank: Assistant Professor
Months: 12
Department: School of Medicine - Pharmacology and Toxicology

Salary: Commensurate

ORP Eligible: Yes

Contact Information:
Contact Name: Tricia Gibson
Contact Email: Tricia.Gibson@vcuhealth.org
Contact Phone:

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