Postdoctoral Researcher Human Genetics

Postdoctoral Researcher Human Genetics

Leiden University Medical Center

Leiden, Netherlands

From € 3,724 up to € 5,867 per month gross

About your role

For iCNS, we are developing a neuropsychiatric atlas that combines clinical, genetic and neuropathological data with multimodal molecular measurements (bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing, long- and short-read sequencing, proteomics and more). This unique and diverse dataset offers extensive opportunities for research. The clinical data will be derived from medical records made accessible through Large Language Models (LLMs); not every assay is available for every sample; measurements are collected at different levels (bulk/clinical data at donor level versus single-cell data at cell level); and a wealth of additional public datasets is available (such as psychENCODE, single-cell brain atlases and large-scale perturbation screens) that can be integrated.

The central theme of this position is multimodal and multiscale modelling of genomic data in neuropsychiatric disorders, with the aim of identifying molecular signatures and candidate targets. We also explicitly want to provide you with the opportunity to help shape the direction of the project based on your own interests and expertise. Building on previous work by our research group in multimodal and single-cell/spatial data integration (such as SpaGE, SIRV, scAGG and CPP), possible research directions include:

• Multimodal integration: learning joint representations across heterogeneous and partially overlapping data types.
• Multiscale integration: linking bulk/clinical data with single-cell measurements to establish connections between information at patient, sample and cell level.
• Linking patient and perturbation data: integrating observational single-cell atlases with in vitro perturbation data to identify and prioritise candidate targets.

About you

You approach complex datasets and methodological challenges analytically and independently. At the same time, you actively seek collaboration with researchers from different disciplines and institutions. You communicate ideas and research findings clearly within an interdisciplinary, multi-site consortium.

In addition, you have:

• A PhD in (bio)informatics, computational biology, computer science, biomedical sciences, statistics or a related quantitative field.
• Strong programming skills, for example in Python and/or R, experience with machine learning or deep learning, and high-performance computing.
• Preferably, experience analysing single-cell and spatial genomics data.
• Preferably, an affinity with neuroscience, psychiatric disorders and/or the analysis of unstructured healthcare data.
• Strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset. You will be working within an interdisciplinary consortium across multiple research sites.