CDC Bioinformatics Fellowship
*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.
A research opportunity is currently available with the Office of Scientific Innovation and Integration in the Division of Healthcare Quality and Promotion (DHQP) at the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.
The selected participant will join the team in a bioinformatics capacity and learn to manage and analyze data from a variety of next generation sequencing activities focused on healthcare associated infections, including microbiome and metagenomic sequencing.
The participant will be involved with cleaning, analyzing, and visualizing data healthcare-associated infection sequencing data, and applying bioinformatics methods for various projects. The participant will learn how to analyze sequencing data from outbreak investigations to help inform public health action. The participant will contribute to a project innovating bioinformatic approaches to clinical diagnostic testing using metagenomic data. The participant will gain experience in communicating findings and emerging priorities with CDC colleagues and programs, and public health partners. The participant may present unique findings and research at national and regional conferences. The participant will learn all aspects of collaborating with other teams and branches within DHQP, and other key partners in federal government, state and local public health departments, professional organizations, and clinical medicine.
This participant will gain experience and experience in how to:
- Analyze sequencing data sets and apply standard bioinformatics tools and pipelines using programming languages like Python and Bash
- Develop bioinformatics-based approaches for detecting antimicrobial resistance genes in metagenomic data generated from clinical specimens
- Support epidemiologic efforts related to healthcare-associated and antimicrobial resistant outbreak investigations
- Manage data from numerous partners, troubleshoot errors, and help maintain reporting interfaces specific to DHQP organisms
- Link sequencing data to other metadata (epidemiologic, geographic, antimicrobigal susceptbility testing, clinical data) and visualize with tools like iTOL and MicroReact
- Collaborate with internal and external partners to help contain and prevent infections and antibiotic resistance
- Present data to scientific and non-scientific audiences
Anticipated Appointment Start Date: January 2021
This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and CDC. The initial appointment can be up to one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of CDC contingent on the availability of funds. The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. The appointment is full-time at CDC in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. Participants do not become employees of CDC, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits.
If you have questions, send an email to ORISE.CDC.NCEZID@orau.org. Please include the reference code for this opportunity (CDC-NCEZID-2021-0039) in your email.