Research Associate in Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology
- Employer
- KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
- Location
- London (Greater) (GB)
- Salary
- £44,105 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance
- Closing date
- 20 Jan 2025
View more categoriesView less categories
- Academic Discipline
- Life sciences
- Job Type
- Research Related, Research Associate
- Contract Type
- Fixed Term
- Hours
- Full Time
Job Details
About Us
The focus of the Köchl lab is to study immune cell signalling in response to TCR and chemokine receptor triggering, and biomechanical cues from the tissue environment. Particularly we are interested in understanding how immune cell migration, immune synapse formation and target cell elimination is regulated. This role is located in my lab in Borough Wing, Guy’s Hospital.
About the role
We are looking to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Associate on a 2-year contract, starting as soon as possible.
Human health faces constant challenges from environmental insults like infections, cancer, and tissue damage, with the immune system playing a key role in responding to these threats.
It has become evident that immune responses are not only shaped by ligand-receptor interactions but also by biomechanical cues from the tissue environment. For example, tumour tissues, can be significantly stiffer and experience higher 3D compression forces, thereby influencing signalling in both tumour and immune cells. While tissue mechanics are recognised as important for tumour biology, their impact on immune cells like cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) or macrophages is less understood.
In this project we will study the effect of tissue mechanics and osmotics on embedded immune cells using a strategic combination of in vitro and in/ex vivo assays. Particularly we are interested in understanding how these tissue parameters affect immune cell volume regulation, polarisation, migration, immune synapse formation and effector functions.
This project is a close collaboration with the Fritzsche lab at the Kennedy Institute in Oxford. The successful candidate will be based at King’s College London but closely work together with the Frizsche lab. Extensive experience in mouse work, cell biology, signalling techniques and biomechanics are essential. This includes super-resolution microscopy approaches, and an ability to analyse complex data sets.
This is a full-time post, and you will be offered an a fixed term contract for 2 years. Interested candidates are encouraged to reach out to Robert.Koechl@kcl.ac.uk
About You
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
- PhD qualified in relevant subject area (Immunology, Biophysics, Biochemistry, etc) *
- Experience in culturing primary murine immune cells, such as T cells or macrophages
- Experience in cell biology methods, such as for instance analyzing actin cytoskeletal dynamics, cell migration and immune synapse formation
- Extensive experience in analysing cellular signaling
- Experience in state-of-the art microscopy approaches
- Ability to acquire new skills as necessary
- Experience in using software tools, such as Flowjo, CellProfiler and Fiji and R
- Excellent ability to analyse and interpret experiments, drive research projects and work to deadlines
- Work proactively and well with colleagues and collaborators
*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.
Desirable criteria
- Strong background in biomechanics, both the theory and methods
- A personal home office license for mouse work
- Efficient communication skills with lab members and collaborators
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 will review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.
Interviews are due to be held within 4 weeks of the application deadline.
We are able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.
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.
- Mini-site
- KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
- Telephone
- +(44)02078365454
- Location
-
STRAND
LONDON
WC2R 2LS
GB
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