About us

The selected candidate will join Dr. Godwin Aleku's research team at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, part of the School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences at King’s College London. Dr. Aleku’s biocatalysis and enzyme engineering group focuses on creating sustainable, enzyme-based methods for pharmaceutical synthesis and exploring the role of biocatalysis in drug discovery.

The Institute of Pharmaceutical Science (IPS) at King’s College London is renowned for its achievements in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, with many successful projects advancing from the lab to clinical application. IPS offers a cutting-edge research environment that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration across chemical biology, medicinal chemistry, biosciences, and pharmaceutical sciences.

About the role

We are seeking to hire a Research Assistant in biocatalysis for an EPSRC-funded project focused on developing enzymatic CO2-fixing enzymes to support sustainable pharmaceutical synthesis. The successful candidate will be involved in cloning, expressing, and biochemically characterising a wide range of biocatalysts for use in organic synthesis. Candidates should hold a degree or Master's in Chemistry, Chemical Biology, or Biochemistry, with demonstrated experience in working with enzymes, enzyme expression, and characterisation, as well as analytical techniques for monitoring enzymatic reactions.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 12 months until 28th February 2026.

About you

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

Essential criteria 

1. A degree in Chemistry/Chemical Biology/Biochemistry or a related subject with at least six months of wet lab experience.
2. Experience with molecular biology.
3. Experience with enzyme expression and characterisation.
4. Experience with analytical chemistry and spectroscopic techniques for monitoring reactions e.g. UV/Vis absorbance/fluorescence, HPLC/LCMS and GC/GCMS, NMR.
5. Ability to work collaboratively within a team and to work independently, with minimal supervision.  
6. Desirable criteria
7. A Master's degree in Chemistry/Chemical Biology/Biochemistry or a related subject with at least six months wet lab experience 
8. Experience in Enzyme Engineering

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

This post is subject to Occupational Health clearances.

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 will review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held on in Early January 2025.

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