Genomic Data Specialist

The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) is offering an exciting opportunity for bioinformatics scientists to use and expand their skill set while assisting public health laboratories with the COVID-19 pandemic response. The COVID-19 Genomic Data Specialist position is an opportunity for master’s- and doctoral-level students and professionals to gain valuable experience assisting laboratories with SARS-CoV-2 genome assembly and uploading sequence data to public access repositories, while networking with scientists on the front lines of public health.

COVID-19 Genomic Data Specialists will be matched with a specific state or local public health laboratory to assist with their genomic data and bioinformatics needs. This is a remote, part-time opportunity through June 30, 2022; funding permitting, there is a possibility for extension beyond that date. Specialists will be paid an hourly rate of $30/hour for 8-20 hours per week as independent consultants.* Hours will be flexible but will require adherence to deadlines set by the host laboratory and APHL. Genomic Data Specialists may be asked to: • Process raw sequencing data to consensus genomes and review. • Track, review and submit SARS-CoV-2 sequence data to national and international data repositories, such as GISAID and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank. • Perform quality analysis and review SARS-CoV-2 variants identified in the sequences. • Follow guidance from federal partners to ensure compliance with best practices for quality analysis, documentation, annotation and variant identification. • Infer SARS-CoV-2 phylogenetic trees and local Nextstrain builds.