Bioactivity Data Manager

Location: EMBL-EBI, Hinxton, near Cambridge, UK
Staff Category: Staff Member
Contract Duration: 2 years
Grading: 6
Closing Date: 6 July 2014
Reference Number: EBI_00402

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Bioactivity Data Manager to join the Computational Chemical Biology team at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) working on the ChEMBL database. ChEMBL is a database of bioactive drug-like small molecules, it contains 2-D structures, calculated properties (e.g. logP, Molecular Weight, Lipinski Parameters, etc.) and abstracted bioactivities (e.g. binding constants, pharmacology and ADMET data).
Reporting to the ChEMBL Group Leader, your responsibilities will include:
  • Curating and organising bioactivity data in the ChEMBL database in a structured way
  • Mapping measured bioactivity data from the scientific literature to other biological entities (proteins, cell-lines etc) using a variety of biological resources and ontologies
  • Storing the information in the ChEMBL database in a structured format
  • Implementing curation pipelines for data from complex and phenotypic assays such as those from cell-based and whole organism studies
  • Manually checking and annotating data by reference to the original data sources
  • Developing semi-automated processes for identifying and correcting erroneous data.
EMBL-EBI is part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and is located on the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus near Cambridge in the UK. We are a world-leading bioinformatics centre providing biological data to the scientific community with expertise in data storage, analysis and representation. We provide a dynamic, international working environment and has close ties with both the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. EMBL-EBI staff enjoy many benefits including excellent sports facilities, a free shuttle bus to Cambridge and other nearby centres, an active sports and social club and an attractive working environment set in 55 acres of parkland.

Qualifications and Experience

Required experience and qualifications:
  • PhD (or equivalent) in a biological or biomedical science
  • Sound knowledge of the various experimental techniques used to determine the activity of compounds in different in vitro and in vivo assay systems
  • At least five years postgraduate experience of working with biological data
  • Prior experience of biological data curation and experience working with a variety of bioinformatics databases and file formats (e.g. FASTA, Excel, XML, OBO)
  • Experience of techniques for data manipulation
  • Familiarity with regular expression and text matching.
Desirable experience and qualifications:
  • Knowledge of SQL and scripting languages such as Perl or Python
  • Some knowledge of biological ontologies and text mining methodologies is preferred
  • Experience carrying out biological assays or working with bioassay data, particularly in the context of drug discovery
  • Use of pipelining or workflow tools.
You will work closely with other members of the ChEMBL Group and have to work to deadlines. You will therefore need to be able to work as part of a team as well as independently, depending on the tasks involved. You will have good communication skills (both verbal and presentational) and will need to be able to work both accurately and quickly.

Application Instructions

Please apply online through our website which can be accessed by clicking 'Apply now'.

Additional Information

EMBL is an inclusive, equal opportunity employer offering attractive conditions and benefits appropriate to an international research organisation. 
Please note that appointments on fixed term contracts can be renewed, depending on circumstances at the time of the review.

We welcome applicants from all nationalities.  Visa information will be discussed in more depth with applicants selected for interview.