About Us

The Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology is based at St. Thomas’s Hospital in the School of Life Course Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine at King’s College London.

King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. The university is dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place.  Through its commitment to exceptional education, impactful research and genuine service to society, King’s College London is creating positive change in its communities, both in London and on the world stage. The Strategic Vision 2029 looks forward to King’s College London’s 200th anniversary in 2029 and sets out ambitious plans in five key areas:

• Educating the next generation of change-makers
• Challenging ideas and driving change through research
• Giving back to society through meaningful service
• Working with our local communities in London
• Fostering global citizens with an international perspective

About the role

The Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology at King's College London wishes to appoint a Technician to work within its laboratories.

The post holder will be responsible for collecting, processing, logging, and long-term storage of blood, faecal and PBMC (peripheral blood mononuclear cells) samples and perform DNA extraction from these samples.  Other main tasks are to archive, retrieve and ship out to third party collaborators a large volume of samples in a high-throughput environment.

The post holder will liaise with the Senior Technician (Biosamples) and DTR Biobank Laboratory Manager on setting up activities and deliverables related to work in the laboratories, including the level 2 containment microbiome laboratory.

A degree in Biology/Biotechnology/Natural sciences is desirable and substantial experience in a high-throughput laboratory environment as a laboratory technician handling large volumes of human samples, particularly PBMC and faecal samples within a class 2 environment is essential.

This is a full-time post, and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 18 August 2025.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Minimum level 3 qualification (e.g. A levels, AS levels, International Baccalaureate diploma or other level 3 qualification) plus work experience in a relevant technical/scientific post
2. Strong verbal and written communication skills
3. Strong planning & organisational skills, managing competing priorities, accurately recording information, and able to recognise and resolve problems 
4. Solutions-focused, with the ability to work with minimal supervision, knowing when to escalate complex problems 
5. Substantial work experience in a high-throughput laboratory environment, ideal biobanking environments and procedures that includes safe handling of liquid nitrogen for sample storage 
6. Awareness of data protection and confidentiality issues 
7. Must be able to work safely, unsupervised and to good laboratory practice (GLP) 
8. Experience in extracting DNA from various human tissues, both by manually and automated techniques 

Desirable criteria

1. Competency in working with various computer software (e.g. Outlook, MS Word, Excel, and particularly Access for sample storage and analysis of data) 
2. Experience of isolation of PBMC (Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells) and storage in liquid nitrogen 
3. Experience of handling human biological samples in a level 2 containment laboratory 

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held in September 2024.

We are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.

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