There are no open calls at the moment. Past calls are kept below for reference.
Interested in joining us?
Most of our positions are advertised in Portuguese, since they follow
Brazilian funding calls (CNPq, FAPERJ and CAPES) and normally require
enrolment at a Brazilian university. The calls below are kept here for
reference; the requirements and deadlines are reproduced as published.
If you are an international student or researcher interested in
collaborating, or in applying for a scholarship to work with us, write
to bioinformatica.iq.ufrj@gmail.com
with your CV and a short description of your research interests.
Call closed
Undergraduate research assistantship — September 2024, with scholarship
- Project title
- Prediction of mutations in antibiotic target proteins
- Supervisor
- Rafael Dias Mesquita (Department of Biochemistry / Institute of Chemistry / UFRJ)
- Who can apply
- Undergraduate students from the life sciences with an interest in computing, or computer science students with an interest in biology.
- CNPq field
- Biotechnology. Priority areas: II. Enabling Technologies — Artificial Intelligence and Biotechnology.
Requirements
- Be enrolled at UFRJ;
- Grade point average (CRA) of at least seven;
- Availability of 16 hours per week on site at the laboratory;
- Not hold another undergraduate research or teaching assistantship scholarship, per the 2024 call available at pibic.ufrj.br;
- Not be enrolled in another undergraduate research project, even an unpaid one.
Desirable
Having already taken a biochemistry course, and an interest in
computing — the project is entirely computational, so programming
knowledge is welcome — plus reading proficiency in English for
scientific articles.
- Positions
- 01
- How to apply
- Send your undergraduate transcript and CV by 1 October 2024 to bioinformatica.iq.ufrj@gmail.com.
Shortlisted candidates are interviewed before the final decision.
Call closed
Undergraduate research assistantship — November 2022, starting in 2023
Project: Chagas disease is a neglected tropical
disease for which only palliative treatment exists, so it must be
contained through urbanisation and vector control measures.
Rhodnius prolixus is a major vector in Latin America and was the
first triatomine bug to have its genome sequenced and analysed by an
international consortium. The most recent assembly (Hi-C) and its gene
prediction, along with all previous genome assemblies, gene
predictions and RNAseq data, were made available through a genome
browser hosted on our laboratory's website. This project aims to
organise these data under the triatominebase.org domain and to
maintain and correct the genomic data. Making these data properly
available should support biological and vector control studies, as
well as comparative studies with other triatomine species.
- Supervisor
- Rafael Dias Mesquita (Department of Biochemistry / Institute of Chemistry / UFRJ)
- Who can apply
- Undergraduate students from the life sciences with an interest in computing, or computer science students with an interest in biology.
- Desirable
- Availability of 16 hours per week on site at the laboratory, an interest in computing (the project is entirely computational, so programming knowledge is welcome), reading proficiency in English, not being enrolled in another undergraduate research project, and a grade point average above 7 to be eligible for a FAPERJ scholarship.
- Positions
- 01
- How to apply
- Send an e-mail describing your motivation, together with your undergraduate transcript and CV, to bioinformatica.iq.ufrj@gmail.com.
Call closed
Undergraduate research assistantship — August 2022
Project: superbugs are estimated to cause 700,000
deaths per year worldwide, 23,000 of them in Brazil (WHO, 2017). This
project aims to develop artificial-intelligence software to anticipate
mutations leading to antibiotic resistance, thereby informing drug
development. This first stage identified antibiotic X, organism Y and
proteins Z and W as a proof of concept, chosen for their medical
relevance and the availability of crystal structures and known
mutations. The next two years are expected to cover
antibiotic–protein redocking (wild type and known mutants) and the
creation of three-dimensional models carrying newly hypothesised
mutations.
- Supervisor
- Rafael Dias Mesquita (Department of Biochemistry / Institute of Chemistry / UFRJ)
- Who can apply
- Undergraduate students from the life sciences with an interest in computing, or computer science students with an interest in biology.
- Desirable
- Availability of 16 hours per week on site at the laboratory, an interest in computing, reading proficiency in English, not being enrolled in another undergraduate research project, and a grade point average above 7 to be eligible for a PIBIC scholarship.
- Positions
- 01
- How to apply
- Send an e-mail describing your motivation, together with your undergraduate transcript and CV.