Applications are invited for a temporary post of a Research Scientist within UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science

We have an opportunity for a highly motivated and talented (postdoctoral) Research Scientist to join our team to develop a patent filed protease platform technology. The applicant is expected to have a PhD, and it is desirable that you have research experience either in academia or industry. The technology destroys the most difficult to degrade protein, the prion, under mild conditions. The prion is the causative agent of prion diseases, which affect animals and humans, one such human disorder is variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which originated from exposure to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) infected products. Finding a technology that can degrade the prion is of great significance as the prion sticks like glue to surgical equipment and cannot be removed by standard decontamination practices. A UK study estimated that 1 in 2000 persons are asymptomatic carriers of vCJD, which equates to 33,000 carriers in the UK alone. This is a global issue as exposure incidents have occurred in many countries. Transmission of CJD from surgical equipment is a concern. The technology being developed here has the potential to mitigate the risk of a surge in this disease.

The technology developed in University College Dublin (UCD), by Hilary McMahon's team, is enzyme based and is a powerful low temperature decontamination tool. This platform technology, with real world impact, has a very significant potential to form the basis of a spin out company and you will have an opportunity to be part of the spin out team. The role will involve research development in the scale up of recombinant microbial enzyme production and technology and concept development. The researcher will also gain valuable exposure to research commercialisation that will be supported by a network of mentors and commercialisation specialists in the University. This position provides you with an opportunity to combine both academia and commercialisation, you can maintain an academic career path whilst exploring the interlink between academia and commercialisation avenues.

This (postdoctoral) Research Scientist position is funded by Enterprise Ireland through the Commercialisation Fund programme (https://globalambition.ie/tag/commercialisation-fund/) and is now available at UCD. The contract on offer is the first 12-month phase in a 3-year programme for the development and commercialisation of a ground-breaking disruptive solution.

Salary Range: €34,000 - €44,000 per annum

Appointment on the above range will be dependent on qualifications and experience.

Closing date: 17:00hrs (local Irish time) on 29th June 2020

Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time of 17:00hrs (Local Irish Time) on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system. UCD are unable to accept late applications.

UCD do not require assistance from Recruitment Agencies. Any CV's submitted by Recruitment Agencies will be returned.

Prior to application, further information (including application procedure) should be obtained from the Work at UCD website: https://www.ucd.ie/workatucd/jobs/.