Research Scientist in Patient Imaging Data Analysis

Would you like to leverage your machine learning and computer vision skills to identify new drug targets for cardiometabolic disease? Are you motivated by being part of a multi-disciplinary team committed to having fun, while working with cutting-edge data to address hard problems? Then you may be the new colleague we are looking for to join our early-stage drug target discovery efforts in the Novo Nordisk Research Centre, Oxford (NNRCO). Apply today!

The Position

The intention for this role is to perform cutting edge analyses of high-throughput patient imaging data to identify new drug targets for cardiometabolic disease. This will involve analysis of imaging data produced at the level of the whole-body (CT/DXA/MRI) as well as the organ. Using these imaging data, we seek to understand the effects of genetics, environment, and therapeutic intervention on, for example, the distribution of fat across the body. To get us there and as part of your key responsibilities:

• You will leverage your expertise in machine learning (specifically image analysis and feature extraction/engineering), knowledge of cardiometabolic disease progression, and experience working with patient medical data to discover novel biology and progress exciting new drug targets through the company’s extensive pipeline.
• Under the guidance of senior research staff across NNRCO, you will have the freedom to identify and champion novel drug targets and you will work closely with our scientists to analyse imaging data in the context of our real-world datasets.
• You’ll be motivated by keeping pace with developments in machine learning and computer vision.
• You’ll demonstrate success based on your experience on several levels, including contributing to projects and analyses undertaken by the group, mentoring younger scientists and collaborators, and contributing to scientific publications and open-source software efforts.

Qualifications

To be successful in the role, you will have a PhD and postdoctoral experience in computational biology or machine learning (or in a similar relevant discipline). Additionally:

• You have strong programming skills in Python/R/Julia, substantial high-throughput computing experience, and be comfortable working in a Unix environment.
• You can demonstrate experience analysing and exploring imaging-derived multivariate data and integrating data from multiple sources such as patient medical records.
• You possess an ability to summarise/visualise data and prioritise results for dissemination to a diverse audience.
• Whilst not strictly necessary but an advantage, you have additional experience with deep learning-based image analysis methods and working with real-world datasets including the UK Biobank.
• Personally, you thrive working in tight multi-disciplinary teams and are driven by independently creating value to the organisation. You are conscientious and able to contribute to a positive working environment on site.

About the Department

You will join the Computational Biology team Novo Nordisk Research Centre Oxford, (NNRCO), located at Oxford University’s Old Road Campus, where we are focused on biology and target discovery across the broad spectrum of cardiometabolic disease. The group boasts significant expertise across a diverse set of disciplines in computational biology, bioinformatics, and machine learning; not least multi-omic data integration, systems biology, and knowledge-graphs. Our strong emphasis is on drug-target identification and providing insights from heterogenous data sources.

The Department is anchored in the newly established Digital Science & Innovation (DSI) organisation within Research & Early Development at Novo Nordisk. DSI is supporting the digital journey across all our therapy areas in R&ED. In DSI, we work in multidisciplinary teams – in strong collaboration with all areas across R&ED and R&ED IT. We participate in drug development projects across the value chain, from early discovery to pre-clinical development. We engage in external collaborations to ensure access to the latest research and technology enablers, and we automate our labs and processes, and we focus on developing and retaining top talent.

Working at Novo Nordisk

We are a proud life-science company, and life is our reason to exist. We’re inspired by life in all its forms and shapes, ups and downs, opportunities and challenges. For employees at Novo Nordisk, life means many things – from the building blocks of life that form the basis of ground-breaking scientific research, to our rich personal lives that motivate and energise us to perform our best at work. Ultimately, life is why we’re all here - to ensure that people can lead a life independent of chronic disease.

Contact

For further information, please contact Dr Ramneek Gupta (+44-7824-606773) or Dr Robert Kitchen (+44-7775-006813). Please submit your application via the Novo Nordisk website. We are unable to accept direct CVs.

Deadline

Apply before 12.02.2023

We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants.

At Novo Nordisk we recognize that it is no longer good enough to aspire to be the best company in the world. We need to aspire to be the best company for the world and we know that this is only possible with talented employees with diverse perspectives, backgrounds and cultures. We are therefore committed to creating an inclusive culture that celebrates the diversity of our employees, the patients we serve and communities we operate in. Together, we’re life changing.