Job description
Connect with ORISE...on the GO! Download the new ORISE GO mobile app in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to help you stay engaged, connected, and informed during your ORISE experience and beyond!
- An application
- Transcripts –
- A current resume/CV, including academic history, employment history, relevant experiences, and publication list
- One educational or professional recommendation. Your application will be considered incomplete, and will not be reviewed until one recommendation is submitted.
All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.
- Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.
CDC Office and Location: A research and training opportunity is available in the Bacterial Special Pathogens Branch (BSPB), Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology (DHCPP) of the National Centers for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) located in Atlanta, Georgia. Partial or fully remote work is available following https://orise.orau.gov/usda-ars/documents/orise-virtual-remote-mentor-guide.pdf
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is one of the major operation components of the Department of Health and Human Services. CDC works to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.
BSPB serves as a national reference laboratory for several high consequence bacterial pathogens, including Bacillus anthracis, Burkholderia mallei and pseudomallei, Brucella spp., as well as over 500 rare and unusual bacterial pathogens. A major component of the work done within BSPB is developing and maintaining bioinformatic tools to assist BSPB and its partners (both national and international) to investigate outbreaks, conduct surveillance, and identify novel species of bacterial pathogens.
Research Project: BSPB is looking for a candidate to participate in data management, bioinformatic pipeline development, analysis and visualization projects related to genomic and metagenomic data for bacterial pathogens. The fellow will conduct research on containerizing specialized bioinformatic pipelines, currently in use within the branch, so that standardized bioinformatic tools may be deployed to partner labs unable to perform their own genomic analysis. This will increase both national and international capacity and ensure that genomic analysis is being performed in a consistent and reproducible manner between multiple laboratories. The fellow will also collaborate with MicrobeNet, a free online virtual reference laboratory run within BSPB, to create an organized state and national surveillance network of diseases which are not currently captured by active systems.
Learning Objectives:
- Knowledge and awareness of the basic principles and concepts of biology, computer science, IT engineering, and mathematics
- Using software effectively to extract information from large databases and to use this information in computer modeling
- Problem-solving skills, including the ability to develop new algorithms and analysis methods
- An understanding of the intersection of life and information sciences, the core of shared concepts, language and skills the ability to speak the language of structure-function relationships, information theory, gene expression, and database queries
The qualified candidate should have received a bachelors or master’s degree in one of the relevant fields (e.g. Bioinformatics), or be currently pursuing one of the degrees with completion by the end of September 30, 2022. The most recent degree must have been received in the past 5 years.
Preferred Skills:
- Proficient in Linux
- Proficient in Bash and Python scripting
- Experience with package managers and compiling from source
- Use of project version control with git Public health informatics majors
- Understanding of generating computer algorithms for disease trends
- Informatics experience, including software applications for public health analysis.
- Background in information technology
- Communications skills and a desire to learn and grow
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree or Master's Degree received within the last 60 months or anticipated to be received by 9/30/2022 11:59:00 PM.
- Discipline(s):
- Computer, Information, and Data Sciences
- Engineering
- Life Health and Medical Sciences
- Mathematics and Statistics
- Other Physical Sciences
I certify that I have not previously been employed by CDC or by a contractor working directly for CDC. I understand that CDC does not permit individuals with a prior employment relationship with CDC or its contractors to participate as trainees in the ORISE program. (Exceptions may be granted for individuals who, since the previous CDC employment, have obtained a new STEM degree which necessitates training in a new field.)
