Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Computational Biology and Epigenetics

About the position

Position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow available at at Department of Biosciences (IBV).

Starting date as soon as possible.

The appointment is a fulltime position and is for a period of three years (10% of which is devoted to other career promoting work, usually in the form of teaching activities). 

No one can be appointed for more than one Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Oslo.

Project description

The Department of Biosciences (IBV), University of Oslo (UiO), invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in computational biology and epigenetics. This position is associated with the recently funded project "Unraveling the molecular mechanisms that imprint epigenetic fate during adipogenesis," supported by the Norwegian Research Council. This project is a collaborative effort, and the position will be co-supervised by Anthony Mathelier (Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway, Nordic EMBL Partnership, UiO) and Pierre Chymkowitch (IBV, UiO).

The main purpose of a postdoctoral fellowship is to provide the candidates with enhanced skills to pursue a scientific top position within or beyond academia. To promote a strategic career path, all postdoctoral research fellows are required to submit a professional development plan no later than one month after commencement of the postdoctoral period.

What skills are important in this role?

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

Qualification requirements:

• Applicants must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Data Science, or related field. Doctoral dissertation must be submitted for evaluation by the closing date. Only applicants with an approved doctoral thesis and public defence are eligible for appointment.
• At least one 1st author publication in an international peer-reviewed journal (or available as a preprint) within the last 2 years.
• Proficiency in programming (e.g., Python, R, bash).
• At least one publication in an international peer-reviewed journal of an end-to-end software developed by the candidate
• Documented experience with Nextflow or Snakemake.
• Documented experience with building Docker containers.
• Experience with high-throughput sequencing data analysis (e.g., CAGE, ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq, or Hi-C).
• Familiarity with epigenetics, gene regulation, or chromatin biology.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively in multi-disciplinary teams.
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
   

Desired qualifications:

• Familiarity with SUMOylation, transcription factors, or chromatin dynamics.
• Expertise in machine learning or statistical modeling for biological data.
• Knowledge of enhancer-promoter interactions and 3D genome organization.

All candidates and projects will have to undergo a check versus national export, sanctions and security regulations. Candidates may be excluded based on these checks. Primary checkpoints are the Export Control regulation, the Sanctions regulation, and the national security regulation.

What are we looking for in you?

Personal skills:

• Ability to communicate science.
• Ability to collaborate with researchers from different fields and at different career stages.
• Willingness to be part of a team to share knowledge and skills.
• Enthusiasm for interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Strong organizational skills
• Positive attitude and the ability to handle hectic periods

Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal skills.

We can offer you

• Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important societal mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promote sustainable, fair, and knowledge-based societal development.
• Committed colleagues in a good working environment. 
• Good welfare schemes.
• Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours.  A workplace with good development and career opportunities.
• Postdoctoral development programmes.
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes.
• Salary in position as Postdoctoral Fellow, position code 1352 in salary range NOK 595 000 - 690 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund. 

Inclusive work life and diversity at UiO

Inclusion and diversity are a strength. The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a balanced gender composition. Furthermore, we want employees with diverse professional expertise, life experience and perspectives.

If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, employment gaps or immigrant background, we will invite at least one applicant from each of these categories to an interview.

We hope that you will apply for the position.

More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here.  

How to apply

The application must include:

• Cover letter (statement of motivation, summarizing scientific work and research interest)
• CV (summarizing education, positions, pedagogical experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activity)
• Copies of educational certificates, academic transcript of records
• A complete list of publications and up to 5 academic works that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for the position".

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

General information

The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews.

Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oslo.

If an applicant has applied for and been granted funding for a fulltime research stay abroad while being employed as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, the employment will be prolonged with the equivalent time as the research stay, but for no longer than of twelve months ( thus extending the employment to a maximum of four years)

No one can be appointed twice as a Postdoctoral fellow financed with funds from The Research Council of Norway (NFR).

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we can't, you will hear from us.

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results a.o.