Faculty Assistant – Bioinformatics

About the role

The Tiwari Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park seeks a motivated Faculty Assistant (Bioinformatician) to support bioinformatics and computational needs, develop new tools, and contribute to wheat genomics research.

Key responsibilities

• Analyze NGS datasets (genomic, RNA‑seq, Iso‑Seq) for gene expression, structural variation, and functional genomics.
• Perform polyploid genome assembly and annotation using state‑of‑the‑art methods.
• Conduct GWAS, QTL‑seq, and MutMap analyses to identify trait‑associated loci.
• Develop and maintain databases for genomic and transcriptomic data.
• Program in Python and R to build custom workflows and visualizations.
• Run pipelines on Linux‑based HPC systems, ensuring reproducibility.
• Lead independent projects from design to completion.
• Collaborate with experimental biologists for publications and grant proposals.
• Mentor graduate and undergraduate students as needed.

Required profile

• Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or related field.
• Strong background in NGS data analysis and genome assembly.
• Experience with GWAS, QTL‑seq, and MutMap pipelines.
• Proven publication record in computational genomics.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Required skills

• Python programming
• R programming
• Linux/HPC environment
• HTML
• JavaScript