Computational Biology Lead

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Job description

Computational Biology expert leading R&D for cutting-edge drug discovery start-up in London. Neuroscience & AI

Your new company
Hays Life Sciences are exclusively partnered with Esya Labs, a diverse, female-led company with an inclusive atmosphere focused on developing precise and cost-effective non-invasive diagnostic tools for diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases well before the disease symptoms manifest physically, using a breakthrough cell scanning technology.

We use a cutting-edge DNA-based nanotechnology, which is supported by 11 patents and has been reported in several peer-reviewed scientific publications in high-impact journals.
Our pioneering technology allows us image and analyse intracellular chemical signatures to:
1) Build a toolkit of biomarkers for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's and other neuro-degenerative diseases.
2) Measure and monitor the progression of diseases of interest.
3) Assist drug development efforts by quantifying patients' responses to various treatments and pre-assessing patient suitability for treatments.

\"Esya's technology is truly revolutionary. Research results have been supporting the potential for this to be a real game changer in Alzheimer's diagnostics.\"
Professor Jack Szostak, Nobel Laureate

Your new role
ESYA LABS is building a dynamic team that is passionate about translating new discoveries at the nexus of biotechnology, cell biology, imaging, and neurology. Driven by recent commercial partnerships with several world-leading pharmaceutical companies, including Novartis, we are expanding our research capabilities in our newly established London laboratory and are seeking an experienced Computational Biologist to join our growing research team.

This role is an exciting opportunity for a high performing candidate with extensive multi-omics experience to join a ground-breaking start-up in London and make a significant impact on the company's development as they go into a rapid growth phase.

You will lead the development of Esya's neuromultiomics platform underlying our diagnostics products, developing cutting edge solutions at the intersection of machine learning, genetic sequencing technology, biological data, and distributed systems. These contributions will drive our mission to diagnose neurocognitive impairments at its most actionable and early stages.
As part of an interdisciplinary R&D effort, you will help us recruit and build a team of computational biologists, machine learning scientists and software engineers.

Core Responsibilities

* Lead the development of Esya's neuromultiomics platform which will sit at the core of our company:

* Develop a set of scalable ML-driven diagnostic algorithms that enable our product development, aimed at maximising diagnostic accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity.
* Develop the infrastructure to enable the selection, acquisition, QCing, normalization, and processing of multi-omics data.
* Select and integrate relevant public data (from sources such as academia and publicly available databases) with internal data sets

* Build for significant growth and scaling challenges as we transition from research to product development, ensuring our platform maintains reliability and scalability as it grows
* Liaise with internal stakeholders to identify biological data requirements as well as potential resource\/data gaps and develop strategies to mitigate these
* Interface and network with senior scientists in Pharma, Biotech, and Academia
* Work closely with biological scientists to understand research needs and engineer robust and reproducible data pipelines that enable cutting edge liquid biopsy research
* Develop software and workflows that support a long-term vision for product development driven by bioinformatics and data science research
* Design, optimise and implement computational strategy

What you'll need to succeed

* Significant experience with bioinformatics software packages and tools, as well as related infrastructure
* Strong Machine Learning or Deep Learning skills applied to biological data; experience with neural nets would be a distinct advantage, as would a history of developing \/ rapid prototyping models, algorithms or methods
* Familiarity with libraries such as numpy, scipy, pandas, Keras, scikit-learn, etc or platforms such as Tensorflow
* Track record of building and managing a highly effective team of computational scientists.
* Robust history of delivering major technical projects or analyses, including experience in a technical leadership role.
* Knowledge of the neuroscience domain is critical, with experience in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's a strong advantage
* Strong computational and programming skills, in Python or R, including thorough experience with large scale systems and user bases. Experience in applying statistical methods and algorithms to large-scale biological datasets.
* Fundamental understanding of bioinformatics, molecular biology, and familiarity with regulatory processes.
* Hands-on experience analysing large scale omics data sets, eg genomics, epigenomics, proteomics (including mass spectrometry), transcriptomics (RNA-seq), Hi-C, ATAC-seq, etc. Experience of working with multi-omics data and\/or immunodetection assays would be an advantage for this role.
* Demonstrated ability to partner with laboratory and computational scientists and engineers to translate scientific roadmaps into concrete products, as cross-functional collaboration is integral to the role.
* A BSc \/ MSc (or equivalent experience) in a relevant field such as computational biology, statistics, bioinformatics, computer science, biology or similar, with a strong preference for a PhD.

What you'll get in return

* Fantastic chance to join one of the most exciting companies in the neuroscience space and make a significant impact on the next generation of precision diagnostics
* Unique learning opportunity in neurology and the pathways of neurodegenerative diseases

* Work with leading researchers in molecular biology
* A competitive salary, reviewed annually, combined with an attractive bonus structure
* Flexible working hours (core hours 10-4, with a 40-hour working week)
* Ongoing professional development support and a significant opportunity to grow our company

What you need to do now
If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call on .

Keywords: bioinformatics, bioinformatician, computational, biology, machine, deep, learning, artificial, intelligence, CNN, neural, net, algorithm, model, Tensorflow, Keras, scipy, numpy, drug, discovery, development, biomarker, assay, research, development, leadership, manager, Director, diagnostics, neuroscience, neurodegenerative, disease, Alzheimer, Parkinson, genetics, genomics, omic, NGS,