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Research Assistant in Infectious Diseases

Employer
KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
Location
London (Greater) (GB)
Salary
Grade 5; £32,676 - £37,297; including London Weighting Allowance
Closing date
20 Oct 2021

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Job Type
Research Related
Contract Type
Fixed Term
Hours
Full Time

Job Details

Job description

SARS-CoV-2 continues to infect millions of people worldwide, with devastating consequences for global health. While vaccination and immunity arising from natural infection are effective in limiting new infections, there is an urgent need to understand the threats and risks associated with emerging viral variants. In response, ten UK research groups have established “G2P-UK; A National Virology Consortium to address phenotypic consequences of SARS-CoV-2 genomic variation”. Led by investigators from Imperial College London, King’s College London, the Glasgow Centre for Virus Research and the Pirbright Virology Institute, G2P employs multi-disciplinary approaches to define the characteristics of emerging viral variants, aiming to understand the genetic, immune, molecular and cellular basis for altered phenotypes. These results will inform public health policy and clinical practice, including treatment strategies, diagnostics and infection control, and vaccination.   

We seek to recruit an enthusiastic and highly motivated research assistant to join the G2P team at King’s College London to work in the labs of Michael Malim, Katie Doores and Stuart Neil in the Dept of Infectious Diseases. We are looking for an MRes/MSc or BSc level researcher with hands on laboratory experience to join an interactive team of post-doctoral fellows, research assistants and post-graduate students studying innate and adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2. Initial projects will include serological and virus neutralisation assays with patient and vaccine samples, the isolation and characterisation of human monoclonal antibodies, and the characterisation of viral infections in cell culture.   

The appointee will be expected to display experimental and technical leadership, contributing to research publications, presentations at international meetings/ conferences, and applications for extra-mural research funding.  

 

This post will be offered on an a fixed-term contract until 31 July 2022 

This is a full-time post – 100 % full time equivalent

 

Key responsibilities

The use of laboratory techniques and strategies to meet the objectives outlined above, including the willingness to work in containment level 3 (CL3) facilities. 

• To provide technical support for SARS-CoV-2 related research. 

• To conduct serological assays to investigate humoral immune responses to SARS-CoV-2. 

• Undertake cell-based virus neutralisation assays. 

• Express and purify viral antigens and virus-specific antibodies.  

• To collaborate with members of the Department working in related projects 

 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

 

Skills, knowledge, and experience 

Essential criteria 

• BSc or equivalent in a biomedical, biological, or biochemical field. 

• Experience with laboratory/experimental work. 

• Ability to maintain accurate laboratory records. 

• Ability to interpret experimental results. 

• Ability to follow both written and oral instructions. 

• Ability to communicate and work as part of a team. 

• Willingness to learn new techniques. 

• Good organisational skills. 

• Self-motivated, flexible and co-operative. 

 

Desirable criteria 

• Masters level degree ideally in a biological or biochemical field. 

• Experience of working with cultured mammalian cells. 

• Experience with serological assays, protein expression and purification. 

• Experience with molecular biology techniques including PCR and DNA sub-cloning 

• Experience with tissue culture and transfection of mammalian cells. 

Further information

This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service and Occupational Health clearance. 

SARS-CoV-2, immune responses, antibodies, infection  

Company

King's College London is one of the top 20 universities in the world and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 27,600 students (of whom nearly 10,500 are graduate students) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 6,800 staff.

King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) King’s was ranked 6th nationally in the ‘power’ ranking, which takes into account both the quality and quantity of research activity, and 7th for quality according to Times Higher Education rankings. Eighty-four per cent of research at King’s was deemed ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*). The university is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of more than £684 million.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org.

King’s £600 million campaign, World questions|KING’s answers, has delivered huge global impact in areas where King’s has particular expertise. Philanthropic support has funded new research to save young lives at Evelina London Children’s Hospital; established the King’s Dickson Poon School of Law as a worldwide leader in transnational law; built a new Cancer Centre at Guy’s Hospital; allowed unique collaboration between leading neuroscientists to fast-track new treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, motor neurone disease, depression and schizophrenia at the new Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute; created the Cicely Saunders Institute: the first academic institution in the world dedicated to palliative care, and supported the King’s Sierra Leone Partnership in the Ebola crisis. Donations provide over 300 of the most promising students with scholarships and bursaries each year. More information about the campaign is available at www.kcl.ac.uk/kingsanswers.

Company info
Mini-site
KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
Telephone
+(44)02078365454
Location
STRAND
LONDON
WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom

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