Scientific data curator
(pathogen genetic and phenotypic data)
Cambridge, UK
About the role and the company:
Next Gen Diagnostics (NGD), a new, well funded and ambitious startup aiming to become the world leader in hospital outbreak detection and sequence-based antimicrobial diagnostics is looking for a scientific data curator who will be responsible for aggregation and curation of genetic and phenotypic data as well as other metadata about the bacterial samples from variety of public and private resources enabled by our scientific and commercial collaborations.
Our company is young but already well known in the space of pathogen sequence-based hospital outbreak detection, AI-based resistance prediction and discovery of novel resistance causing mechanisms. We have established R&D partnerships with thought leading microbiology lab directors across the United States and Europe, and with major commercial, governmental and pharma partners. Our operations will generate bacterial whole genome sequence (WGS) and AST data supporting development and testing of novel methods that will revolutionize the way infection control, diagnostics and antibiotics development is done, as well as provide WGS-based transmission detection services to hospitals across the US, and ultimately world-wide.
This is a chance to join a team of world class scientists and engineers pioneering the application of WGS to microbiology diagnostics and to hospital transmission detection. NGD’s AI-driven platform has already been demonstrated to accurately predict resistance to antibiotics for which traditional methods struggle and is leading to discovery of novel resistance-causing mechanisms which we hope will play a role in the development of the novel antimicrobials that the world desperately needs.
Requirements:
Relevant education (microbiology, genetics or bioinformatics)
Experience in or facility with genetic and phenotypic data curation
Experience in or facility with extracting relevant information from supplementary materials of scientific literature
Understanding the concepts of antimicrobial resistance and relevant phenotypic data (MIC, SIR)
Basic knowledge of sequencing methods (Illumina, ONT)
Basic knowledge of AST testing methods (Broth microdilution, Disk, Vitek, etc)
Basic knowledge of SQL and ability to query SQL databases is a benefit
Ability to write or learn to write and run basic scripts (python or shell)
Excellent verbal and written english communication skills
Responsibilities:
Sourcing genetic and phenotypic data from public and private sources
Establishing contacts and collaboration relationships with relevant authors, scientific and commercial partners in order to obtain data and resolve inconsistencies
Curating data to ensure format, validity, consistency and traceability
Participating in meetings and conferences and representing data expertise
Benefits:
Market-competitive salary and benefits
Private health insurance
Stock options in a dynamic company lead by founders with a track record of commercial success
Opportunity for growth in your or wider role as your interests and abilities allow