IT Administrator / Scientific Programmer
The post-holder will be responsible for installation, maintenance and administration of the IT infrastructure of the research group ‘Quantitative and Theoretical Biology’. The tasks include planning the infrastructure, installation and configuration of Linux operating systems, installation and configuration of software. The successful candidate will also support the research group by the development scientific software and user-friendly interfaces to software developed in-house.
The position is offered in the context of the German Excellence Initiative which promotes outstanding research at German universities. CEPLAS is a joint effort of University of Cologne, HHU Düsseldorf, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and Forschungszentrum Jülich. Researchers of these institutions are pursuing inventive strategies for sustainable plant production (www.ceplas.eu).
Job description: The successful candidate will work in the research group ‘Quantitative and Theoretical Biology’ (75%) and the ‘Centre for Advanced Imaging’ (25%). A central task is to administer and maintain the computing infrastructures. This involves communication with the central computing facility at HHU, regular installation of security updates, purchasing new hardware and software, overseeing functionality of the internal communication tools (slack, Wiki, etc.) and in general staying in close with the group members and discuss their specific computational requirements.
Your profile:
Experience in IT-Administration (Hard- and software)
Experience in the Administration of Unix/Linux operating systems
Knowledge in IT security
Programming skills (e.g. Python, C++, Julia, etc.)
Reliability and Responsibility
Good communication skills in German and English
Payment is according to the German civil servant payscale TV-L E11. The position is permanent.
Applications from disabled persons are welcome. Disabled persons with equal qualifications will be given priority. Applications from women are expressly welcome. Women with comparable qualifications will receive particular consideration, unless another applicant displays compelling reasons to prefer this person.
Please send letter of application, CV, publication list, transcripts, and letters of recommendation electronically as one PDF document to Dr. Oliver Ebenhöh (oliver.ebenhoeh@hhu.de) who may also be contacted for further information.
We wish to recruit as soon as possible.
Interested candidates please contact Oliver Ebenhöh
PhD "Mathematical Modelling of Microbial Communities"
The advertised project is integrated into CRC 1535 MibiNet “Microbial networking – from organelles to cross-kingdom communities” and the associated graduate research training group “MibiNeⓍt”. The CRC 1535 includes five cooperation partners, including the Research Center Jülich (FZJ), the Technical University of Aachen (RWTH), the University of Bielefeld, the University of Cologne and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) in Cologne.
Phototrophic microorganisms such as green algae interact synergistically with heterotrophic bacteria and fungi in their environment. These organisms assemble into stable communities in the regions neigh-bouring unicellular algae, known as the phycosphere, and play roles in global carbon and energy cycles. However, the fundamental principles that govern phycosphere community assembly and dynamics are relatively poorly understood, particularly in terrestrial ecosystems. We aim to use the eukaryotic, photo-synthetic model organism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to build computationally designed, stable and ro-bust synthetic consortia to establish a solid quantitative theory to explain fundamental principles govern-ing microbial ecosystem establishment, dynamics and resilience.
Job description: The successful candidate will develop mathematical models to theoretically investigate of the dynamics of microbial communities. A major goal is to obtain a quantitative understanding how environmental factors determine the stability, resilience and diversity of a community. This requires to also understand the interaction mechanisms between species and how these lead to community properties, such as stability and resilience. For this, differential equations-based models will be developed. The initial approach will be based on extended MacArthur consumer-resource models, which describe ecosystem dynamics based on resource availability, metabolic competition and cross-feeding. During the course of the project, the models will evolve from abstract to highly quantitative and calibrated with experimental data. The models will be developed in direct collaboration with the experimental partners Ruben Garrido-Oter (MPIPZ) and Bart Thomma (UoC), who provide high-quality, time-resolved data on dynamic communities, and perform dedicated experiments to determine the metabolic functions of the community members. Model predictions will guide experimental design to challenge the model and optimise information gain.
Your profile:
- A completed scientific university education (M.Sc./Diploma) in a a natural science discipline (physics, chemistry, biochemistry, etc.)
strong mathematical background
experience with differential equations
some programming skills
a keen interest in the biological questions addressed in this project
A spoken and written command of the English language is desirable
Affinity to teamwork
Good communication skills and enthusiasm for interdisciplinary exchanges are appreciated
Applications from disabled persons are welcome. Disabled persons with equal qualifications will be given priority. Applications from women are expressly welcome. Women with comparable qualifications will receive particular consideration, unless another applicant displays compelling reasons to prefer this person.
Please send letter of application, CV, publication list, transcripts, and letters of recommendation electronically as one PDF document to Dr. Oliver Ebenhöh (oliver.ebenhoeh@hhu.de) who may also be contacted for further information.
Two PhD positions in the Marie-Curie Initial Training Network "PoLiMeR"
Background
The Marie-Curie ITN "PoLiMeR" (Polymers in the Liver: Metabolism and Regulation) implements a systems medicine approach, based on computational models fed with individual patient data, to provide the basis for a personalised diagnosis and treatment strategy for metabolic diseases. The PoLiMeR consortium has identified the inherited, liver-related diseases of glycogen and lipid metabolism as the ideal starting point for innovative research training in personalised ‘Systems Medicine’. The project is coordinated by Prof. Barbara Bakker, University of Groningen. The consortium includes clinicians, experimental biologists, and theoretical biologists, who will form intense collaborations to understand mechanisms of various energy metabolism-related disorders.
Opportunities for two Early Stage Researchers
The Institute of Quantitative and Theoretical Biology at the Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf is seeking outstanding candidates for two Early Stage Researchers (ESRs). The successful candidates will be developing mathematical models to study carbohydrate polymer metabolism in humans, and in particular to explain the causal effects of enzymatic disorders on human health. The project will be carried out in close collaboration with experimental and clinical partners within PoLiMeR. We specifically look for candidates for the following two projects:
Mathematical modelling of glycogen metabolism and glycogen-related disorders
The PhD student will develop a computational model to study overall dynamics of glycogen formation and analyse which parameters determine the structural properties of glycogen, such as branching pattern and size. The PhD student will reproduce metabolic disorders related to glycogen metabolism and develop intervention strategies how to counteract glycogen-related metabolic disorders by drug applications.
Dynamic computational modelling of lipid synthesis and storage in the human liver
The PhD student will focus on construction and validation of a dynamic model of lipid synthesis based on ordinary differential equations and detailed kinetic data. Patients with defects in the mitochondrial fatty-acid oxidation (mFAO) accumulate acyl-CoA esters which are substrates for chain elongation into longer lipids. The PhD student will connect the lipid synthesis model to an existing and experimentally validated mFAO model and explore pathway stability and lipid profiles in various mFAO disorders and at different diets.
Your profile
- MSc in Systems Biology, Bioinformatics, Physics, or any other natural science
- Strong mathematical skills
- A keen interest in biology and medicine
- Curiosity and open-mindedness
- Ability to work individually as well as a member of a team
We offer
- A motivated international team working at cutting-edge research questions in quantitative and theoretical biology
- A pleasant and constructive working environment
- An attractive salary
- Numerous local and international collaborators
- The ideal environment to follow your curiosity and perform excellent research
Mobility rule by the EU
For ITNs, successful candidates must fulfil the mobility criteria defined by the European Commission:
At the time of recruitment by the host organisation, researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of their host organisation for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the reference date.
Specifically, for the ESRs to be recruited at the Heinrich-Heine University, this means that they cannot have lived/worked for more than 12 months in Germany during the 3 years prior to the recruitment date. The recruitment is envisaged for April 2019.
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