Job description

This is a research support post in Mishto lab within the Centre for Inflammation Biology and Cancer Immunology (CIBCI) at the Guy’s campus of King’s College London. This post is also shared with Kordasti lab at the Comprehensive Cancer Centre at the Guy’s campus of King’s College London and could include experiments carried out at the Francis Crick Institute in Mishto lab. 

These two groups are working on a number of projects relating to antigen presentation and T cell response in cancer and inflammation with the aim to further characterise the underlying molecular mechanisms and identify potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets. 

The focus of the post will be to carry out a project on:

1.       myeloproliferative neoplasia (MPN) funded by Blood Cancer UK (BCUK) for 3 years. Co-PIs: Mishto, Kordasti and Harrison. The name of the project is: Identifying unconventional neoepitopes and immune phenotypes in Myeloproliferative Neoplasia to facilitate personalised combined immunotherapies. 

The successful candidate will be expected to lead, under the supervision of the group leaders, two independent programmes of research whose principal aims are: 

(i) discovery noncanonical (mutated) epitopes relevant in cancer immunotherapy. 

(ii) isolating CD8+ T cell clones specific for HLA-I-restricted neoepitopes carrying recurrent driver mutations in cancer, and cloning their TCRs to investigate the epitope generation in cancer cells; 

(iii) investigate the neoepitope antigenicity in peripheral blood of cancer patients. 

(iv) Validating the epitope candidates in xenograft mouse model. This task is limited to the project funded by CRUK.  

Detailed knowledge of applied cellular and molecular biology and immunobiology, biochemistry and cloning would be highly advantageous.  

The successful candidate will have opportunities to interact with national and international collaborators with a broad expertise, which varies from computational biology to clinics, as well as Mishto lab at the Francis Crick Institute (London, UK). 

This post will be offered on  a fixed-term contract for 30 months 

This is a full-time post

Key responsibilities

•                  Isolation of CD8+ T cell clones  

•                  TCR sequencing and cloning in viral expressing vectors 

•                  CyTOF analysis 

•                  FACS, cell sorting 

•                  Molecular and cellular immunology experiments 

•                  In vivo experiments with mouse models (only the project funded by CRUK) 

•                  Participating actively in related research projects, for example those looking at immune responses to antigenic peptides in patients 

•                  Develop, lead and conduct designated research projects in collaboration with members of the group, department, division or the faculty and initiate and conduct research collaborations nationally and internationally.  To be responsible for co-ordinating and implementing research projects 

•                  To make research initiatives and original contributions to the research programme wherever possible, including funding applications and to contribute freely to the team research environment in a manner conducive to the success of the research project as a whole 

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 

•        flow cytometry 

•        ELISA, EliSpot 

•        CyTOF 

•        Western blots, proteomics  

•        long-term tissue culture 

•        basic molecular biology/biochemistry 

•        bioinformatics 

in vivo experiments on mouse models

Essential criteria  

1.      A PhD in Cell or Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Immunology or a related subject  

2.      Experience of mammalian cell culture 

3.      Excellent knowledge and understanding of cell biology, molecular immunology, antigen presentation, T and B cell biology 

4.      Track record of peer-reviewed scientific publications 

5.      Effective time management and organisational skills 

6.      Ability to communicate effectively with researchers 

7.      Ability to manage a busy research project 

Desirable criteria

8.      Experience of working with cell culture, molecular and cell biology projects, antigen presentation, T and B cells 

9.      Experience of working with flow cytometry 

10.   Extensive experience in modern cellular, molecular biology, biochemistry and imaging techniques 

11.   Experience of T Cell clone generation and maintenance 

12.   Experience of in vivo experiments on mouse models 

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6. 

Further information

Dr. Michele Mishto ( michele.mishto@kcl.ac.uk)   

Dr. Shahram Kordasti ( shahram.kordasti@kcl.ac.uk)