Multi-modal clinical testing of prostate cancer patient plasma.

Attard Lab is seeking a highly motivated and talented applicant with a background in computational sciences, e.g. bioinformatics, biomathematics, biostatistics, computer sciences with biosciences interests, or similar. The project will focus on integrating genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic data from plasma samples from clinically-relevant prostate cancer cohorts with carefully annotated clinical follow-up data collected in prospective randomized clinical trials. We aim to accelerate the implementation of discoveries into clinical practice in order to improve the outcomes of advanced cancer patients.

The successful candidate will work in a multidisciplinary team and will be involved in the analysis and interpretation of next generation sequencing data, both to identify genomic aberrations (e.g. single nucleotide variants, indels, copy numbers, etc) as well as transcriptomic and methylation changes. Specifically the computational PhD student will be responsible for developing dedicated pipelines to evaluate aspects of methylation related to genomic and transcriptomic features from prostate cancer patients’ plasma samples. The applicant should have demonstrable experience in programming and scripting skills (e.g. R, Python, Perl, etc). Experience of working in a Linux/UNIX environment and scripting is essential. Excellent organisational and communication skills are essential. Understanding of cancer biology would be advantageous. Experience with next generation sequencing data tools (e.g. samtools, picard, etc) is desirable but not essential.

This is a four-year funded PhD studentship. Stipend: £21,000 per annum.