Bioinformatics Web Application Developer

About Us

 

The Berkeley Phylogenomics Group ( http://phylogenomics.berkeley.edu) is an academic group of computer scientists, mathematicians and biologists on the UC Berkeley campus.We’re funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health to develop new bioinformatics methods and provide webservers and databases to the scientific community. The PhyloFacts phylogenomic encyclopedia spanning gene families across the Tree of Life ( http://phylogenomics.berkeley.edu/phylofacts) is our flagship web resource, and attracts thousands of users worldwide.



Job description for web application developer

We’re looking for an experienced web programmer who loves programming, is excited by bioinformatics and genomics and is looking for more than just a paycheck.  The ideal applicant will have experience handling multiple aspects of web application development from the database schema to the browser UI.  It really helps if you love science, because that is what we are all about.





Qualities of the successful applicant:

Required background:   Experience using a complex MySQL database, including optimizing queries for performance and tuning the schema and indices.  Experience using scripting languages (preferably Python or Perl) to implement a complex website.  Expertise at delivering a great user experience to web users using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.





Our webserver carries out complex computations to put bioinformatics and genomics tools in the hands of biologists.  In addition to deploying many of the methods we have developed in-house, we also employ tools developed by other groups around the world, and download data from a variety of other bioinformatics/genomics resources and databases.  Our database includes a huge array of heterogeneous data -- DNA and protein sequences, 3D protein structures, phylogenetic trees, multiple sequence alignments, biological literature, hidden Markov models, enzyme active sites, and more.





The successful applicant will rise to the challenge of integrating, organizing and presenting these results in an understandable and informative way, while paying careful attention to correctness and completeness. Engagement with the underlying biological data, scientific questions and bioinformatics methods will form the foundation of the applicant's success in this role.





This position requires great attention to detail, the ability to write clear, modular and robust code, troubleshooting skills and strong communication skills. Fluency in English is required.

 

Valued but not required: Bioinformatics skills in protein structure and function prediction. Other programming languages which are useful include PHP and C++. Django experience is helpful.

 

UC Berkeley is an equal opportunity employer and provides comprehensive benefits. See  http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/neo/benefits.htm for details.

 

To apply: Please send your resume, including details on coursework, programming, web application development and database administration experience (indicate level of expertise), any background in bioinformatics/genomics and computational biology, and contact information for three references to Dr Ruchira Datta ( phylo@phylogenomics.berkeley.edu ).