HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Department of Biostatistics
655 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
(617) 432-1056
FAX: (617) 432-5619
dept@biostat.harvard.edu
Computational Biology Software Developer
Description:
The Huttenhower lab in the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health is
seeking a full- or part-time Software Developer. This position will help to develop and maintain a
set of tools for computational metagenomics and microbial genome analysis, specifically:
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Implementation of methods for high-throughput phenotype/metagenome association in a
programming language and environment of choice.
The HUMAnN software suite, currently prototyped in Python and SCons (see
http://huttenhower.sph.harvard.edu/humann/).
A Python and SCons based service for orthologous gene family prediction and comparative
genomics.
Implementation, documentation, and packaging of these services as online web applications
using the Galaxy framework (see http://huttenhower.sph.harvard.edu/galaxy/).
Strong programming and software development skills are a must, but no prior experience with
biology or bioinformatics is necessary. The successful candidate will work as part of a diverse
research team with interests in scalable genomic data mining, computational metagenomics, and
the human microbiome in public health. The candidate must be available for weekly meetings at
the Harvard School of Public Health Longwood campus, but most work can be carried out on- or
off-site as needed.
Qualifications:
Proficient in Python and a Linux/Unix command line environment; experience with one or more
revision control systems (Mercurial/git/Subversion/etc.); experience with one or more software
build systems (make/rake/SCons/etc.) Basic familiarity with web development (particularly
Galaxy, GenePattern, or Ruby on Rails) is not required but is beneficial, as is any prior biological
or bioinformatic experience.