Bioinformatician I

Position Overview

ASRT, Inc. is recruiting a full-time Bioinformatician I to support the Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch within the CDC's Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, located in Atlanta, GA. The role involves delivering bioinformatics expertise to advance molecular detection techniques for waterborne and environmental diseases by employing whole genome sequencing, metagenomic analysis, and genome-based typing.

Primary Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the team to develop and implement bioinformatics pipelines for wastewater metagenomic analysis supporting the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS).
• Participate in creating statistical approaches to detect genetic variants and estimate abundance from wastewater sequencing datasets.
• Contribute to designing visualization and reporting tools to interpret metagenomics results effectively.
• Help develop standardized bioinformatics outputs suitable for integration into the DECIPER platform.
• Conduct quality control, assembly, and comprehensive analysis of environmental metagenomic sequencing data.
• Manage high-throughput sequencing data files and databases, including submission to repositories such as NCBI.
• Prepare and present clear scientific reports, presentations, and manuscripts.
• Support outbreak investigations related to waterborne and environmental pathogens.
• Travel domestically and internationally to present findings at scientific meetings and assist with training, as needed.
• Utilize high-performance and cloud computing environments with programming languages (Python, R, Perl) and open-source bioinformatics tools (Bowtie2, Velvet, Spades, Prodigal).
• Use software version control platforms such as GitLab, GitHub and workflow/containerization tools including Docker, SnakeMake, and Singularity.
• Telework options may be available for roles not requiring physical presence or during campus closures.

Requirements

• Master's degree or higher in public health, epidemiology, computer science, bioinformatics, biostatistics, biological sciences, or related disciplines.
• Proven experience in data analysis, management, and working in interdisciplinary teams.
• Skilled in developing and managing complex relational databases.
• Familiar with statistical tools such as SAS, R, Stata, or equivalents.
• Competent with Microsoft Office applications, notably Access and Excel.
• Strong organizational capabilities with an eye for detail and managing multiple tasks.
• Excellent interpersonal skills for collaborative teamwork.
• Self-driven with adaptability to support dynamic project needs.
• Desirable skills include scripting in Python, R, or shell, basic statistics knowledge, comfort in fast-paced interdisciplinary settings, and experience with UNIX command-line tools and next-generation sequencing data processing.
• Fluency in English communication, both written and verbal.
• Must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or authorized to work in the United States.

Additional Information

• Travel, both domestic and international, may be required for conferences and trainings such as ASM Microbial Next-Generation Sequencing Conference, Oxford Nanopore User Meetings, among others.
• Compensation will be aligned with qualifications and experience.