We are seeking an innovative and productive statistical geneticist, with a track record of high quality human genetic analysis. The candidate should be comfortable applying state of the art analysis methods, and also interpreting findings in the context of the growing body of functional evidence (e.g. eQTL) to determine potential causal mechanisms.
GSK aims to improve the number of successful late stage clinical trials for innovative medicines, by both identifying and advancing drug targets that have strong evidence of a causal role in disease biology. The Human Genetics team leverages major scientific and technological advances, including investment in biobanks linked to large-scale human health databases, cutting-edge informatics platforms, breakthrough understanding of biological pathways, functional genomics capabilities built upon rapid progress in gene editing, and leading industry-academia partnerships, in order to identify the best targets and to continue evaluation of targets through their life in the pipeline.
The successful candidate will work in a multidisciplinary, collaborative and scientifically driven environment, interacting with key academic collaborators and GSK scientists to advance drug discovery and clinical development in multiple disease areas. This field-leading research addresses important drug discovery and development challenges, directly impacts GSK’s R&D pipeline, and publishes results in top scientific journals.
The selected Statistical Genetics Investigator(s) will:
Develop and implement approaches to acquire, analyze, interpret and apply human genetic evidence to inform target selection and validation decisions across a range of disease areas.
Participate in project teams with GSK scientists and external collaborators.
Find creative solutions and quickly prototype applications to address challenging scientific questions.
Contribute to the developing science of drug target identification and validation, providing scientific expertise within Human Genetics and across the Research organization.
Multiple Locations: Collegeville, Pennsylvania; Stevenage, United Kingdom
Basic qualifications:
Ph.D. or equivalent experience in statistical genetics, genetic epidemiology, statistical bioinformatics, or a related field.
Proficient in analyses of human genetic and phenotypic data, interpretation of genetic associations, and use of functional annotation to investigate potential causal mechanisms, with publications in peer reviewed journals.
Proficient in at least one general purpose programming language suitable for statistical genetic analyses, including either R or Python. Familiarity with other statistical genetics tools including Hail is a plus.
Demonstrated skills in working in teams to find creative ways to address scientific questions.
Excellent communication and influencing skills and developing leadership skills for working with multidisciplinary teams and with international colleagues.
Preferred qualifications:
Ability to develop and evaluate innovative statistical genetics or data analytic methodology.
Experience analyzing data from both array genotyping and next generation sequencing platforms.
Experience with one or more of the following:
Complex phenotype data (e.g. longitudinal or time series) and genomic data liked to varied sources of phenotypic data (e.g. electronic health records, epidemiological cohorts, and clinical trials).
Incorporation of additional molecular data, such as from gene expression profiling, metabolomics, or proteomics into genetic analyses.
Genetic or genomic data analysis in a distributed data and compute “big data” environment (e.g. Apache Hadoop, Apache Spark).
GSK aims to improve the number of successful late stage clinical trials for innovative medicines, by both identifying and advancing drug targets that have strong evidence of a causal role in disease biology. The Human Genetics team leverages major scientific and technological advances, including investment in biobanks linked to large-scale human health databases, cutting-edge informatics platforms, breakthrough understanding of biological pathways, functional genomics capabilities built upon rapid progress in gene editing, and leading industry-academia partnerships, in order to identify the best targets and to continue evaluation of targets through their life in the pipeline.
We are seeking motivated, innovative, skilled and experienced Individuals to join our expanding team within the Human Genetics department. Candidates should be keen to drive and apply state of the art analysis methods to inform decision making across the GSK pipeline, integrating diverse and complex data types to translate genetic signals into innovative new medicines for patients with unmet medical need.