This call is made under the provisions of the Fourth additional provision of Real Decreto-ley 32/2021, de 28 de diciembre, de medidas urgentes para la reforma laboral, la garantía de la estabilidad en el empleo y la transformación del mercado de trabajo and the Order of January 30, 2023 of the Consejería de Economía, Hacienda y Empleo authorizing the IMDEA ALIMENTACIÓN FOUNDATION to cover 8 posts through a public call, charged to the specific replacement rate authorized by the Secretaría de Estado de Función Pública del Ministerio de Hacienda y Función Pública on December 30, 2022.

This rate is complementary to the ordinary replacement rate established in Ley 4/2021, de 23 de diciembre, de Presupuestos Generales de la Comunidad de Madrid para 2022 and the additional stabilization rate derived from Ley 20/2021, de 28 de diciembre, de medidas urgentes para la reducción de la temporalidad en el empleo público.

Job description:

Research related to "Host-Microbiome Interactions". The objective focuses on the characterization of the intestinal microbiome through the use of bioinformatic and computational tools to evaluate changes associated with diseases such as colorectal cancer, obesity and celiac disease, and their possible modulation through nutritional strategies to improve the treatment or monitoring of these.

- Research on the effect of the microbiome on the development of complex diseases

- Use of nutritional strategies and bioactive compounds for modulation of the microbiome in cancer treatment.

- Applications of food technology to modulate the microbiome and its interference with tumor cells for the treatment of colorectal cancer.

- Evaluation of the effect of bioactive compounds on the microbiome.

- Microbiome-based approach to anti-aging biology.

- Use of artificial intelligence for the prevention of chronic diseases through personalized nutrition.

- Use of Maching Learning in studies of the human microbiome.

Functions profile of the Researcher:

The researcher will be responsible for the design, planning, performance and analysis of the results of the group's experiments, in close coordination with the Head of the Computational Biology Group and with the other members of the group. To do this, he/she must be aware of the latest advances in the field, by reading current publications, participating in congresses and seminars, etc.

The researcher must help in the supervision and training of the interns that the research group hosts, including students in internships, final degree or master's projects, doctoral students, etc.

The researcher will actively participate in the writing of research projects, scientific publications, conference presentations or talks, in close collaboration with other members of the group.

Researcher will perform laboratory analyses, will interpret statistical results, and prepare reports including integrated summaries for reports, manuscript and proposal submissions

The researcher will be a reference person in the coordination of work in the laboratory, including orders management, location and organization of laboratory materials and reagents, maintenance and care of research equipment and other coordination tasks.

Required degree:

PhD in Life Sciences (Pharmacy, Biology, Microbiology Biochemistry, Medicine, Biotechnology, Veterinary, Bioinformatics, Food Science and Technology or similar).

Other specific requirements:

- Postdoctoral experience with a PhD contract, not less than 4 years in public or private R&D centers or Spanish or foreign universities, related to the corresponding Research Area.

- Publications in high-impact international scientific journals in the area, with at least 4 articles as first or “corresponding” author.

- Use of fluent English (spoken and written).

Curricular merits of the candidate:

• Contributions

- Co-author of prestigious scientific publications (indexed in international databases), in some of them as the first author, books or chapters of scientific and technical books.

- Co-author of communications to scientific conferences.

- Co-inventor in granted or licensed patents.

• Participation in R+D+i activities:

- Participation in competitive research projects, contracts with companies, agreements, both national and international, related to the research area of the position.

- International mobility (stays in foreign research centers).

• Other curricular merits:

- Successful applications in highly competitive scientific programs for young researchers (e.g. "Juan de la Cierva" Program, "JAE" Program, "PEJ"-POST Program, etc.)

- Obtaining awards, mentions and research distinctions.

- Other contributions not included in the previous sections.

Other merits to assess:

- Specific experience in the research area of the position, including:

Proven experience in cell and molecular biology techniques, including, primary cultures and/or organoids, DNA extraction for microbiota analysis, microbiological primary cultures, genotyping, gene expression analysis.

- Knowledge of advanced bioinformatics, and management of machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence, including: metagenomic analysis of shotgun and 16S rRNA data, construction of co-occurrence networks, sequence alignment methods, taxonomic assignment, supervised and unsupervised classification methods, exploratory data analysis, integration of multi-omic and phenotypic data.

- Knowledge of R and Python.

- Direction or co-direction of doctoral theses and degree and master's projects.

- Participation in the preparation of proposals to attract external financing.

- Collaboration in transversal activities (dissemination of results, ..)

- Participation and leadership in consortia and national and international research research networks.

Capacities:

- Ability to work independently on routine tasks as well as new assignments.

- Demonstrate strong organizational skills and teamwork.

- Proactive attitude, professional leadership.

After the deadline for submission of applications has expired, and once compliance with the requirements listed in the second base has been verified, the Selection Committee shall proceed to evaluate the merits based on the curricula provided, and to the selection of the candidatures that best fit to the established requirements; in a second selection phase, a personal interview will be conducted.

The personal interview will consist of conducting a face-to-face or videoconference interview that will deal only with the merits claimed by the candidates in the competition phase and will be aimed at assessing the candidate's suitability for the position and knowledge of the English language. The interview will have a maximum duration of 45 minutes.

• Selection criteria:

I. Curricular merits: 0-50*

II. Other merits: 0-20*

III. Interview: 0-30

Type of contract: permanet full-time employment contract with trial period established by law.

Dedication: full-time, 37.5 hours per week, from Monday to Friday.

Duratio: permanent

Incorporación: immediately after the selection process.

Headquarter of the IMDEA Food Insitute, Madrid (SPAIN)