Job description:

-- Design and implement databases (MySQL and/or Oracle), provide  
upgrade and maintenance for the existing databases.
-- Implement data access and data manipulation procedures for these  
databases, both web-based and standalone (Perl, Java, and potentially  
other languages).
-- Implement interoperability solutions (at the moment -- BioMoby).
-- Implement and run various data transformation procedures --  
primarily, to extract data from files generated by biological  
equipment (like Affymetrix microarray scanner) and prepare them for  
processing by statistical software like SAS and R (Perl, Java, and  
potentially other languages). This may involve basic statistical  
analysis (something like calculating means and variances).
-- Implement statistical analysis using SAS and/or R, which includes  
formatting output in a convenient for a biologist manner.
-- Design statistical analysis -- based on the available data and  
biological questions that have to be answered.

It is expected that the most of the required techniques and knowledge  
will be obtained on the job.

Minimal programming background:

-- Good knowledge of 2-3 programming languages (does not matter which  
languages).
-- Reasonable experience with programming tools such as text editors,  
standalone compilers and debuggers, IDEs.
-- Familiarity with Unix and Windows.

Minimal statistical background:

-- Elementary probability theory (including the law of large numbers  
and some limit theorems)
-- Basics of parameter estimation theory (notions of consistency,  
biased and unbiased estimators, etc., maximum likelihood theory).
-- Basics of hypotheses testing theory.

Desired programming background:

-- Object-oriented and functional paradigms.
-- Basics of relational databases structure.
-- Fundamental data structures and algorithms (a reasonable subset of  
what is described in D. Knuth, "The Art of Computer Programming").
-- Grammars and languages, lexical analysis and parsing.
-- Numerical methods (at least, for linear algebra).

Desired mathematical background:

-- Elementary set theory (including notions of functions, relations,  
and operations on them).
-- Algebra: groups, rings, fields, linear algebra.
-- Calculus and differential equations.
-- Functional analysis, probability theory, mathematical statistics  
(if you understand why this three topics are listed together, you  
have sufficient level of knowledge in these disciplines).
-- Lambda calculus.


For more information please contact Mikhael Kovtun at  
mikhail.kovtun@duke.edu