Serverless computing for medical applications

Sano Centre for Computational Medicine is a new International Scientific Foundation located in Kraków, Poland. 

Sano aspires to be a major translational scientific institute, operating at the meeting point of academic science, established MedTech industry, and emerging start-up environment, combining the best of these three perspectives. 

Established with support from the European Commission and the Foundation for Polish Science, Sano aims to be a major driving force behind the advancement of computational medicine for the benefit of healthcare systems worldwide. 

Sano acts as a core technology and expertise provider for industry, and creator of innovation, developing state-of-the-art solutions for healthcare. Thanks to the substantial funding and excellent European partnership network, Sano will bring critical mass to this transformational field of research, in order to translate scientific advancements onto clinical practice. Sano’s ambition is to become the Reference Centre for Computational Medicine in Central Europe and build a reputation as a leading center on a global level.  

As a cross-disciplinary institution, Sano uses machine learning/artificial intelligence (ML/AI), large scale computer simulations, data science, and other computational technologies towards overcoming global challenges in healthcare systems. The research agenda will be executed in close collaboration with Partners in Poland, EU and USA. 

Project title: Serverless computing for medical applications 

Publication date: 06.10.2023 

Closing date: 25.10.2023 

Level of education: Master’s degree 

Hours: 40 hours per week 

Salary indication: up to 9300 PLN gross monthly 

Supervisors: dr. Maciej Malawski (Extreme Scale data and Computing Research Group Leader)  

Project start: Nov 2nd 2023

Serverless computing is a relatively new trend in cloud computing, in which application developers focus on providing the required functionality and the infrastructure providers are responsible for managing servers. Serverless model, usually based on Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) and Container-as-a-Service (CaaS) infrastructures has been developed for interactive event-driven applications and has been successful in many business but also scientific domains, where interactive data analysis or processing of streaming data is required.  

The goal of the project will be to evaluate the applicability of serverless computing to medical applications. The possible usage scenarios include: analysis of genomics datasets in parallel at large scale, processing of data from wearables and IoT devices collecting measurement of patient parameters, high throughput distributed analysis of parameter space of modeling and simulation models, or distributed and federated machine learning on data from edge devices. The project will provide opportunity to develop proof-of-concept solutions using modern technologies coming from public clouds (e.g. Amazon, Google, Microsoft) and open source projects (OpenWhisk, Knative). Moreover, an important part of research will be on performance evaluation of developed solutions using real infrastructures, to understand the costs and benefits of the serverless model and to optimize the execution of applications. 

We offer a fixed term contract for 40 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (at the start, we offer a 3-month contract for a trial period). This will be supported by an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. The contract will include opportunities to participate in teaching and supervision of undergraduate and master students.  

The salary, depending on relevant experience before the beginning of the employment contract, will be up to 9300 PLN gross per month, based on a full-time contract (40 hours a week) for the duration of 4 years with private medical care and a sports card. 

This PhD will be a collaboration between Sano and a degree awarding body. The student will be based in Poland, Krakow operating in conjunction with the Cyfronet supercomputing centre hosted by AGH.  

Sano offers excellent opportunities for study and development, an access to many international conferences on computational medicine and a possibility to grow in a scientific society. 

You are expected to: 

• do original research in this field under the direction of the supervisor;
• participate in the many seminars by internal and external speakers as well as journal clubs and group activities; 
• collaborate with other PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers and other Sano employees. 

As our successful candidate you should have: 

• Master’s degree in a relevant discipline such as computer science, computer engineering, robotics, physics or similar; 
• knowledge of operating systems and distributed computing; 
• excellent programming skills: Python, C++, Bash; 
• experience in HPC, cloud and/or container technologies is desired; 
• prior academic or industry research experience; 
• interest in pursuing applied research; 
• excellent written and oral English communication skills. 

Sano is an equal-opportunity employer. We prioritize diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for everyone. We value a spirit of enquiry and perseverance, provide the space to keep asking questions, and promote a culture of curiosity and creativity. 

Do you recognize yourself in the job profile? Then we look forward to receiving your application. 

Applications in .pdf should include: 

• a cover letter; 
• a curriculum vitae;