Bioinformatics Specialist Event - 12/7/16

Norris Medical Library Bioinformatics Service is recruiting a new bioinformatics specialist.  We cordially invite you to attend the second candidate presentation “ChIP-seq Data Analysis”.  This one-hour presentation will introduce the basic principles of analyzing ChIP-seq data.  Attendees will learn the fundamentals of ChIP-seq experimental design, data processing and downstream analysis with popular open-source tools on the Galaxy platform (https://usegalaxy.org).

Topics will include:

• Introduction to ChIP-seq
• Quality control on sequencing reads
• Reads alignment to a reference genome
• Data normalization
• ChIP-seq peak calling
• Data visualization with the Integrated Genome Browser
• Functional annotation of ChIP-seq peaks
• Analyzing peaks for transcription factor binding sites

Time: Noon – 1pm, Wednesday, December 7th.
Location: HSC—West Conference Room (basement level), Norris Medical Library
UPC—Live broadcast, Learning Center, Wilson Dental Library

The presentation can also be viewed on your own computer via live broadcast

Lunch will be provided at both in-person locations, seats are limited.

Registration is mandatory: https://uschsl.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bxvpsWw21HxJvz7

Bioinformatics Specialist Candidate Presentation #1

Norris Medical Library Bioinformatics Service is recruiting a new bioinformatics specialist.  We cordially invite you to attend the first candidate presentation “Identifying Quality Variation in High-Throughput Sequencing Datasets”.  This one-hour workshop will focus on identifying sets of variants that can be used for evolutionary and population genetic inference.  Attendees will learn the key concepts and steps to call and filter variants from sequencing reads.  

The workshop will 

•  Be applicable to both model and non-model systems
•  Cover the data structures of each of the major file formats in high-throughput data analysis (FASTQ, SAM, and VCF)
• Introduce a number of standard analysis tools, including BWA and the Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK)
• Include suggestions on how to appropriately filter variants
• Illustrate how to perform analyses using the Unix command line and Galaxy

Time: 11 AM – noon, Wednesday, Nov. 30th.

Location: HSC—West Conference Room (basement level), Norris Medical Library

UPC—Live broadcast, Learning Center, Wilson Dental Library

The presentation can also be viewed on your own computer via live broadcast

Lunch will be provided at both in-person locations, seats are limited.

Registration is mandatory: https://uschsl.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_79TfRpbbpAlkwNT

USC Mentoring Awards

USC MENTORING AWARDS

PURPOSE

The USC Mentoring Awards honor individual faculty members for helping to build a supportive academic environment through faculty-to-student mentoring and faculty-to-faculty mentoring.

AWARD CATEGORIES

• Faculty Mentoring Faculty, Postdoctoral Scholars, Medical Residents, and Fellows

• Faculty Mentoring Students

CRITERIA FOR AWARDS

Distinguished mentoring for academic and professional success occurs at USC through formal and informal channels, and may vary in style and substance from discipline to discipline. The main criterion for mentoring awards is demonstration of a continued commitment to, and effectiveness in, mentoring.

Individual awards will be given to faculty members who consistently perform one or more of the following:

1. Offer valuable information, insight, and counsel that helps advance and develop a mentee’s own path to success, both academic and professional.

2. Generously share time and expertise critiquing a mentee’s work and progress.

3. Involve peers and students in publications, grants, and conference presentations, as well as readily sharing knowledge of such opportunities.

4. Serve as a role model by maintaining high standards for excellence within their own discipline and in the University community more widely.

ELIGIBILITY FOR NOMINATIONS

All faculty members—part-time and full-time—currently employed by USC are eligible for nomination. A nominee may not win two years in a row.

NOMINATION PROCEDURES

Submit a complete nomination form and maximum of TWO letters supporting the nomination in addition to the letter from the primary nominator. Letters can be solicited from past or present mentees of the nominee, the nominee’s department chair, the nominee’s dean, or other appropriate individuals. Letters should not exceed two pages each.

Letters of support can be submitted at the same time as the nomination form or separately here.

All nomination forms and letters of support must be submitted electronically by 5:00pm on Friday, January 29, 2016.

Paper nominations will not be accepted and nominations cannot be supplemented after the deadline.

TIMETABLE

Nominations submitted by 5:00 p.m., January 27, 2017
Selection announced by March 28, 2017
Awards Ceremony: April 6, 2017


For questions, please contact Dana Coyle, Program Manager at USC Center for Excellence in Teaching, at coyle@usc.edu.

Internship Opportunity In Fitness/Dietary Products

Background & Summary

A Los Angeles-based start-up company that's in the very early stages of developing fitness/dietary products seeks a Genomics/Bioinformatics Intern.  
Summary: Work with a personalized genomics fitness start-up company to act as liaison between our fitness professionals and our DNA sequencing lab. Further, the position will develop web applications for visualizing the genetic data.

Requirements
Minimum Education: Presently pursuing a Masters of Science or higher in Genomics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology or a technical field that requires extensive genomic analysis and computational programming.

Minimum Experience: In-depth understanding of genomics, genetic variation, SNP arrays and the ability to work with our fitness professionals to translate the data into easily understandable analysis for our fitness clients.

Other Requirements: Programming skills also required to convert the sequencing data into web-based reports in an automated and high volume basis. Experience with Perl, R, Java, SQL and/or Python.

Start Date: December 2016. 

Next Steps
Interested students can reach out to Douglass Burleson at burleson@usc.edu

Ph.D. Defense | Comparative Ecology and Physiology of Critically Endangered Madagascar Tortoises

Andrea Currylow
Ph.D. Candidate
Integrative & Evolutionary Biology Graduate Program

Tuesday, November 29
1-2 PM
RRI 321

Abstract: For ectotherms, physiology and behavior are critically tied to environmental conditions. Feeding, metabolism, reproduction, and even movement are strongly influenced by temperature, cover availability, and resource quality.  The underlying mechanisms of these interactions are, however, poorly understood.  The use of seasonal baseline hormone concentrations and data on ranging behavior can be used to determining the potential reproductive output in both wild and captive populations.  Using three closely related, critically endangered Malagasy tortoise species as models, I assessed the tempo and mode of reproductive potential, activity, and health (stress and body condition) by measuring circulating stress and sex steroid hormones in conjunction with environmental, physical, activity, and behavioral data.

Two funding opportunities for graduate students

The Rockwell Dennis Hunt Scholastic Award honors USC graduate students whose undergraduate degree is from USC. The $5,000 award is bestowed at the USC Honors Convocation in April.

Applicants must meet the following criteria:
• Earned a bachelor’s degree at USC within the last five years (2012 - 2016);
• Completed at least three years of undergraduate work at USC;
• Currently working towards a master’s or doctoral degree at the University of Southern California during 2016-2017

Applications are due through to the Graduate School by Friday, December 16, 2016. The online application is available here: https://app.wizehive.com/appform/login/USCRDH

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The Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship supports graduate students in any field of study. An applicant must be a US citizen. The application and more information about the award is available here: https://app.wizehive.com/appform/login/USCLiebmann

An initial application is due to the graduate school on Friday December 16, 2016. Two candidates will be selected to move forward in the process. These candidates will be asked to complete the full Liebmann application and provide supplemental materials including a resume, statement of purpose, undergraduate and graduate transcripts, copies of graduate exam test scores, two letters of recommendation and a copy of the FAFSA. The complete submission will also require a copy of the USC Financial Aid Summary and a copy of your Federal Income Tax Return for the prior two years.

Guest Lecture | Jan Perry, "Communication approaches for navigating successful outcomes..."

Tuesday, Nov. 82 PMAHF B10

Ms. Perry will speak on indigent initiatives, group therapy, and helping individuals re-enter the workforce.

Jan Perry by uscbiscgrad on Scribd

NSF Teaching Fellowship at Claremont Graduate University

The Claremont Colleges STEM Initiative (CCSI), an NSF funded project at Claremont Graduate University (CGU), has a fellowship opportunity for individuals that have or will be graduating with a degree in a STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). The project provides 100% tuition and training to become a certified math or science teacher in an area public school. They are currently accepting applications for the 2017-2018 cohort.

Visit them on Twitter @PrepareInspire for more information!