Evolutionary Computational Biologist (Postdoctoral Fellow)

The NLM is one of the 27 institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NLM is the world’s largest biomedical library and a leader in research, development, and training in biomedical informatics and health information technology. The DIR within the NLM has two primary research areas: computational health research and computational biology.

1. In computational health research, our efforts center on natural language processing (NLP), clinical image analysis, biomedical ontologies, information modeling, and clinical data analytics.
2. In computational biology, we emphasize transcriptional regulation, chromatin and network biology, structural and functional analysis, sequence statistics, and evolutionary genomics.

Dr. Koonin’s Evolutionary Genomics group consists of about 20 researchers (half post-doctoral fellows and half senior scientists) that perform research into a broad range of problems in computational evolutionary biology including but not limited to: evolutionary genomics of bacteria, archaea and viruses; coevolution of viruses and host defense systems, with an emphasis on prokaryotic immunity; origin of eukaryotes of eukaryotes, their viruses and defense systems; origins of genomes, cells and viruses – the earliest stages in the evolution of life; mathematical modeling of evolutionary processes and fundamental theory of evolution; cancer as an evolutionary process.

The group has extensive publication record, with 40 to 50 papers published per year. The specific area of research is wide open within the general framework of evolutionary biology. Ideally, the chosen research direction will combine theoretical modeling of evolution with analysis of specific genomic (as well as transcriptomic and proteomic) data, but can be also limited to either theory or empirical analyses.

Position Overview: This is a full-time postdoctoral fellow position. The initial appointment will be for one year, and is renewable on a yearly basis, with extensions up to 5 years total. The NIH offers a competitive stipend (based on postdoctoral experience, see stipend tables) and a stipend supplement for comprehensive health insurance. The NIH is dedicated to the continued education and career development of all its research staff. Candidates are subject to a background investigation. Explore additional information about NIH postdoctoral fellowships.

Essential:

• PhD in computational biology, molecular biology, computer science, applied mathematics, theoretical physics, or similar, relevant field
• Fewer than five years of postdoctoral experience
• Good programming skills
• Knowledge of at least basic statistics

Preferred:

• Experience in computational biology, genomics, and/or phylogenetics
• Background in applied mathematics, computer science or theoretical physics