Postdoc - Bioinformatics (m/f/d)-

The Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt is one of the largest universities in Germany with about 48,000 students and around 5,000 employees. Founded in 1914 by Frankfurt citizens and since 2008 back in the legal form of a foundation, the Goethe University has a high degree of autonomy, modernity and professional diversity. As a full-service university, the Goethe University Frankfurt offers more than 100 study programs on five campuses in a total of 16 faculties and at the same time has outstanding research strength.

Applications are invited for one

post-doctoral fellow position (m/f/d)

100%
(E13 TV-G-U)
available at the Institute of Cardiovascular Regeneration at the
Goethe-University of Frankfurt
(Germany).

We are embarking on an ambitious program to understand how immune dysregulation shapes cardiovascular health and disease. The position centers on large-scale human genomic and transcriptomic data with a strong focus on whole exome sequencing (WES), variant discovery, and integrative analyses with clinical phenotypes. You will both drive independent projects and support collaborative efforts across the institute.

We offer a highly stimulating, collaborative, and international environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, excellent mentoring, flexible scheduling, and options for off-site work.

Your Role

• Lead WES and variant-calling analyses (≈60%): Build, run, and maintain robust pipelines for WES: read alignment and QC, germline variant calling, joint genotyping, recalibration, filtering, and annotation; deliver cohort-level association and burden tests; produce clear reports for collaborators. Contribute to variant interpretation by integrating resources such as gnomAD, ClinVar, OMIM, and gene/constraint metrics.
• Develop and extend analysis pipelines (≈25%): Expand existing workflows (Nextflow/Snakemake preferred) for targeted DNA sequencing and long-read data; enable CNV/structural variant detection where appropriate; containerize tools and ensure reproducibility on HPC.
• Integrate multi-omics and clinical data (≈10%): Link WES results with bulk and single-cell RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, immune-receptor repertoires, and curated clinical endpoints from human cohorts in cardiovascular medicine. Emphasize rigorous statistics and transparent, version-controlled analyses.
• Communication and dissemination (≈5%): Plan analyses, document methods, present at international meetings, and publish in peer-reviewed journals in close collaboration with the PI and clinical partners.

You have:

• A doctorate in computational biology, bioinformatics, biostatistics, computer science, or a related discipline.
• Hands-on experience with WES/whole-genome variant discovery and downstream analysis (e.g., BWA/Minimap2, GATK, DeepVariant, bcftools; VEP/ANNOVAR for annotation; burden and rare-variant association tests).
• Proficiency in Python and/or R for data wrangling, statistics, and visualization; experience with Unix/Shell and version control (git). Workflow experience (Nextflow or Snakemake) is advantageous.
• Familiarity with human clinical data handling, basic phenotype modeling, and good practices for data security and governance (GDPR-aware workflows). Experience collaborating with clinicians is a plus.
• Bonus skills: single-cell analysis (Seurat/Scanpy), immune-receptor analysis, long-read processing, cloud/HPC, containerization (Docker/Singularity).
• Excellent communication in English, strong organizational skills, a team mindset, and curiosity.

What we offer:

• An international, diverse, and positive working atmosphere with a flexible work environment.
• A competitive salary based on experience, according to the Goethe University collective agreement.
• Access to state-of-the-art computing and sequencing infrastructure.
• Professional development opportunities and mentoring.
• Landesticket Hessen for free public transportation within Hesse.