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PhD scholarship: Using AI to design RNA with custom properties

  • 20 Jan 2025 4:27 PM
    Message # 13452456

    PhD scholarship – Using AI to design RNA with custom properties

    Background

    RNA therapeutics have been successfully implemented as vaccines, and their application to other conditions, such as cancer and rare diseases, is being explored. Custom design of RNA properties (e.g., storage stability, in vivo stability, and translation efficiency) is crucial to developing RNA therapies with increased efficiency and safety. However, this is a significant challenge due to an incomplete understanding of the relationship between RNA sequence and in vivo properties. This project aims to use state-of-the-art artificial intelligence architectures and large datasets to solve this challenge and design RNA molecules with tailored properties.

    PhD project description

    ● The PhD student will independently and with support from advisors, plan and execute studies for implementing deep learning architectures using data from large scale studies. The project is co-supervised by Dr. Paul Jaschke and A/Prof. Georgy Sofronov at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia across the Schools of Natural Sciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and Computing. The supervisors have a wide-range of experience in synthetic biology, bioinformatics, and statistical machine learning methods with applications to bioinformatics and computational biology.
    ● The project will be supported in part by a BioInnovation grant focussed on using AI for synthetic biology within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Macquarie University. The supervisors are members of and receive support from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, Research Centre in Multi-omics, Biomolecular Discovery Research Centre, and the Data Horizons Research Centre.
    ● Expected start date from Q2 through to Q4 2025.

    Required

    ● A Masters or Honours-level degree, preferably in a field such as Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Data Science, or Machine Learning.
    ● Proficiency in English.
    ● Currently in Australia or able to relocate to Australia.

    Desirable

    ● Proficiency in Python, R, and/or Julia programming languages. Experience with PyTorch, Tensorflow, Keras or similar is a plus.
    ● Experience with next-generation sequencing data analysis (e.g. transcriptomics, genomics)

    Additionally you are

    ● Self-driven and able to work independently, leading research projects across multiple disciplines.
    ● Motivated to work on applying AI to biological research.
    ● Able to complete projects and have evidence of such.

    The scholarship includes..

    ● $38,500 per year tax-free stipend, indexed annually
    ● Tuition
    ● 3 years

    Application

    ● Cover letter addressing requirements for the position
    ● CV

    Contact

    For further information contact Dr. Paul Jaschke (email: paul.jaschke@mq.edu.au)


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