Research Scientist Engineer 1 University Of Washington
Seattle, WA

Job Description

As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here. As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty. All of which has allowed the UW to be nationally recognized as a "Great College to Work For" for four consecutive years.

The Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington has contributed to many phases of research. Initially recognized for incisive studies of the structure and function of proteins, and the mechanisms of enzyme action, the department branched out into a multitude of other areas. These included: developmental biology of flies, fish, frogs, and mice; molecular mechanisms of aging in yeast and mammals; vertebrate visual and immune responses; chromosome dynamics, cell division, DNA replication and repair; energy transduction during photosynthesis; protein secretion and membrane fusion; translational control and regulated protein degradation; protein structure determination by crystallography and NMR spectroscopy; and protein structure prediction and enzyme design. Our diversity of interests guarantees a rich intellectual and educational environment.

The Department of Biochemistry currently has an outstanding opportunity for a Research Scientist/Engineer 1.

The Gu laboratory develops novel technologies to fundamentally improve the engineering of protein therapeutics and tools. We build protein interaction sequencing technologies by coupling 'protein barcoding' techniques to in situ barcode (or polony) sequencing, a powerful extension of next-generation DNA sequencing. In situ polony sequencing can directly measure protein interactions in massively parallel at a single-molecule or single-cell level. An example of protein interaction sequencing is a single-molecular-interaction sequencing (SMI-seq) technology we recently developed (Nature, 2014, 515:554-557) for 'library-by-library' or 'all-by-all' interaction profiling. We apply SMI-seq and others to measure natural or synthetic protein interactions, to explore the druggability of human protein interactomes, and to develop molecule sensors, vaccines and therapeutic T cells.

This position is to assist our current dry lab team to further improve an established bioinformatic pipeline including high-throughput digital image processing, barcode or base calling to generate DNA sequence information (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3178052/), and quantifying DNA co-localization to measure protein interactions. They will work with professors and staff engineers to learn and improve established algorithms.

Minimum Requirements:

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Bioinformatics or related engineering field + 3 months to one year of experience in related field.

Strong programming experience with at least one of the following languages: C ++, MAITLAB, Python

Desired:

Knowledge of digital image analysis and next-generation DNA sequencing

Strong abiliy in mathematical modeling and statistics

Strong organizational and communication skills

Application Process:

The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select "Apply to this position". Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your "My Jobs" page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.

Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, your experiences, perspectives and unique identities will be honored at the University of Washington. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable, and welcoming.