Ph.D/MSc Bioinformatics Student

Institution / Department:
Université Laval, Québec, Genomic Research Center
Québec, Qc

Description:
Automated quantitative analysis of rodent behavior will be of vital importance in detection and quantification of complex phenotypes, for comprehensive analysis of human disease models, and for assessing the efficacy of various therapeutic strategies and their unexpected side effects.
This innovative project should enable a scientific community to perform behavioural research faster, more consistently and more efficiently than that which is possible with human observation or other technologies.

We are looking for a Ph.D/MSc Student who will work on new tools for the analysis of the behavioral responses in rodents. The project will provide training in computer vision technology, the design of automated assays and in behavioural analysis and screening techniques in mouse. The successful candidate will develop and validate an automated home-cage system for behavioural phenotyping in rodent. State of the art vision algorithms will be used to detect and identifies the behavioral profiles of the mouse. The motion and postural aspects of the rodent’s behavior are captured by the automated-system and fed into a pattern recognition algorithm where the signal is compared to a reference list of behavioral patterns and classified.
The candidate will be responsible for software development, system evaluation and validation and will have the opportunity to contribute to all aspects of the project.

Our needs:

We ask a Ph.D/MSc degree in statistics/biostatistics, computer science, physics, computational biology or other fields with strong quantitative training. Strong programming skills in C/C++, R, and similar languages are required. Previous experience with genomics or biological data analyses is a plus. You should have interest in phenotyping of laboratory rodent behavior. You should be proficient in English and have excellent scientific writing and presenting skills. You are an enthusiastic team player who is able to work independently, and who has good organizational and communicational skills.

The main tasks are:

1- Development of algorithms for integrated behavior classifications, and for typical behaviors.
2- Development of new analysis tools.
3- Analyzing and statistical testing of data of animal behavior.
4- Development of strategies to analyze complex data and resulting in a graphic representation.
5- Contributing to scientific publications on these topics.

Applications should be sent by email to:
Dr. Mohammed Filali (Mohammed.Filali@crchul.ulaval.ca) or
Dr. Arnaud Droit (arnaud.droit@crchuq.ulaval.ca)

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