Position open on bioinformatics/data mining for functional genomics -
deadline 31 August 2003
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IOSI and IDSIA, Switzerland, are seeking for an outstanding person to work
for a new functional genomics facility. The position will offer the
opportunity to do top-level research on genomics, both at applied and
theoretical level, leading ultimately to establish a group of excellence in
bioinformatics with strong competence in data mining and molecular biology.
The functional genomics facility comprises an Affymetrix system and a
Packard/Perkin Elmer ScanArray Express scanner for spotted/customised
microarrays.

The work will be mainly based in the Experimental Oncology Department of
IOSI (Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland, http://www.iosi.ch/),
inside the Institute for Research in Biomedicine
(http://www.irb.unisi.ch/), and at IDSIA (Dalle Molle Institute for
Artificial Intelligence, http://www.idsia.ch/).

Possible backgrounds are bioinformatics, computer science, physics,
engineering, mathematics, statistics, etc. The ideal candidate will have
either a Ph.D. in one of the former fields, or a M.Sc. degree followed by
2-3 years of experience with data mining and statistics. Strong skills in
Bayesian statistics and Bayesian network modelling would be a plus.
Knowledge of molecular biology and genomics is not required but preferred.
The ideal candidate will also be strongly skilled in computer science
(e.g., C, C++, Java programming, deep knowledge of common operating systems
such as Unix, Windows), and very experienced with data mining and
statistical packages.

The initial appointment will be for 2 years, starting in autumn 2003.
English is the official language at the Institute for Research in
Biomedicine and at IDSIA. See
http://www.idsia.ch/~zaffalon/positions/genomics03.htm for more information.


Applicants should submit:
(i) Detailed curriculum vitae
(ii) List of three references (and their email addresses)
(iii) Transcripts of undergraduate and graduate (if applicable) studies
(iv) Concise statement of their research interests (two pages max).

Please mail all correspondence to:

Prof. Franco Cavalli, Direttore Medico IOSI, Ospedale San Giovanni, 6500
Bellinzona, Switzerland.

Applications can also be submitted by fax (+41 (0)91 811 90 44) or by email
to oncosg@... (2MB max). WWW pointers to ps/pdf/doc/html files are
welcome. Use Firstname.Lastname.DocDescription.DocType for filename convention.

Thanks for your interest.

Franceso Bertoni, Responsible of the functional genomics/molecular
pathology unit, IOSI.
Marco Zaffalon, Senior researcher, IDSIA.

ABOUT IOSI
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Since 1988 the Division of Medical Oncology of the IOSI has had an active
research laboratory. The major goal of the laboratory has been to study the
biology and molecular genetics of lymphomas, in conjunction with the
clinical programs of bone marrow and peripheral stem cell transplantation.
All major molecular and cell biology techniques as well as
immunophenotyping of lymphoma and leukemia were established and are
currently employed in the laboratory. Researchers at the IOSI laboratory
began to study genetic and molecular rearrangements as diagnostic and
prognostic markers in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL). The laboratory has
been particularly active in the study of the biology of low-grade NHL, and
the pathogenesis of MALT lymphomas has been a major focus of the last few
years. With the expansion in laboratory space and personnel, new research
programs on solid tumours and molecular pharmacology have been initiated in
addition to the existing programs on NHL. These studies promise to shed
light into basic mechanisms of tumorigenesis and provide insights for
development of novel therapeutic and preventive strategies for cancer.
The overall goals of the laboratory's research programs in molecular
pathology and functional genomics are to analyze prognostic and diagnostic
molecular markers, identify predictive markers of response to therapeutic
and preventive agents, monitor pharmacodynamic responses to new agents in
clinical trials, and identify novel molecular therapeutic targets for
cancer disorders. These goals will be accomplished by using
state-of-the-art methodologies, including gene expression profiling by
microarray, conventional and real-time RT-PCR, genomic sequencing,
molecular cytogenetics, and immunohistochemistry.
In addition, the laboratory plans to establish, in conjunction with the
clinical research units, a tumour tissue bank of paraffin-embedded and
snap-frozen specimens from patients enrolled in all clinical trials carried
out at the IOSI. The laboratory is fully equipped to carry out all standard
cell biology and molecular biology techniques.
Dr. Catapano is the scientific director of the laboratory, while Dr.
Bertoni is responsible of the functional genomics/molecular pathology unit.
This unit currently consists of four investigators with expertise in the
areas of molecular biology, cytogenetics, microarray analysis. Other
laboratory personnel will assist and complement the molecular pathology
unit as needed.
All the equipment needed for more advanced genetic and molecular
biology-based research is also available, including ABI 310 nucleic acid
sequencer, ABI 7700 Real Time PCR, Affymetrix GeneChip system, Agilent
Bioanalyzer, Packard/PE ScanArray Express scanner for spotted microarrays
and arrayCGH, and BX61 Olympus system for classic and molecular (M-FISH)
cytogenetics.


ABOUT IDSIA
-----------
IDSIA (http://www.idsia.ch) is a joint research institute of the University
of Lugano (http://www.unisi.ch) and the Swiss Italian University for
Applied Science (http://www.supsi.ch). Our research focuses on uncertain
reasoning, imprecise probabilities, data mining, graphical models,
artificial neural nets, reinforcement learning, complexity and
generalization issues, unsupervised learning and information theory,
forecasting, artificial ants, combinatorial optimization, evolutionary
computation.
IDSIA is small but visible, competitive, and influential. The "X-Lab
Survey" by Business Week Magazine ranked IDSIA among the world's top ten
labs in Artificial Intelligence. IDSIA's algorithms hold the world records
for several important operations research benchmarks (see Nature
406(6791):39-42 for an overview of artificial ant algorithms developed at
IDSIA).
IDSIA is located near the swiss supercomputing center. IDSIA is close to
the beautiful city of Lugano in Ticino, the scenic southernmost province of
Switzerland. Zurich, Milan and Venice are only few hours away by train.