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Research Associate

Employer
KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
Location
Guy's Campus, King's College London
Salary
£47,882 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance
Closing date
14 Feb 2025
View more categoriesView less categories
Academic Discipline
Psychology, Social Sciences
Job Type
Research Related, Research Associate
Contract Type
Fixed Term
Hours
Full Time

Job Details

About us:

The postdoctoral scientist will join the group of Marzia Malcangio at the Wolfson Sensory, Pain and Regeneration Centre within the School of Neuroscience IoPPN.

About the Wolfson Sensory, Pain and Regeneration Centre

The Wolfson Sensory, Pain and Regeneration Centre (Wolfson SPaRC) research focuses on the molecular basis of pain and hearing loss, and on neural repair and regeneration following disease and injury to the brain and spinal cord. The research spans chronic pain & migraine, spinal cord & brain repair, and hearing loss & sensory systems. Our fundamental mission is the understand the biological mechanisms behind neurological and sensory disorders and harness this knowledge to develop new therapeutic strategies.

Wolfson SPaRC is one of four departments in the School of Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. It is located at Guy’s campus. Researchers have access to support facilities in confocal microscopy and histology.

About the School of Neuroscience

The School of Neuroscience is UK’s 2nd largest Neuroscience school with over 500 researchers and 200 PhD students. It is one of three schools at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. We are ranked 4th in the world for the total number of publications in neuroscience and 4th for the number of publication outputs in top 5% citations in neuroscience, and 4th for top 5% citations in neurology.

Our academic and research staff are integral to our school. Their work is supported by a group of Professional Services staff members within the departments as well as at the school level.

We support staff members requiring flexible working arrangements and reasonable adjustments. Upon consultation at the points of recruitment and onboarding, we will strive to provide the best adjustments for you.

We strongly encourage our staff to dedicate time to their professional development through training courses and participation in working groups and networks. We also encourage our staff to seek mentoring outside their direct line management. Mentoring, both via formal and informal arrangements, allows individuals to fully explore their career situation and development. Our weekly school circular regularly captures and promotes opportunities open to all staff.

About King’s College London and the IoPPN

King’s College London is amongst the top 40 universities in the world and top 10 in Europe (THE World University Rankings 2024), and one of England’s oldest and most prestigious universities. With an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research, King’s maintained its sixth position for ‘research power’ in the UK (2021 Research Excellence Framework). King's has more than 33,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,500 staff.

The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s is a leading centre for mental health and neuroscience research in Europe. It produces more highly cited outputs (top 1% citations) on psychiatry and mental health than any other centre (SciVal 2021), and on this metric has risen from 16th (2014) to 4th (2022) in the world for highly cited neuroscience outputs. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), 90% of research at the IoPPN was deemed ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*). World-leading research from the IoPPN has made, and continues to make, an impact on how we understand, prevent and treat mental illness, neurological conditions, and other conditions that affect the brain.

About the role:

A postdoctoral research associate position on neuroimmune interactions and pain has become available. This position is part of an MRC programme grant in collaboration with Queen Mary University London, University of Leeds and Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company.

a) Contribute towards a research programme, which has been conceived to examine the role of extracellular vesicle communication for communication between neurons and non-neuronal cells in chronic pain.

b) Being responsible for undertaking the programme of work

c) Conduct empirical research as required by the research programme.

d) Collect data and undertake any appropriate analysis of data as requested.

e) Maintain appropriate databases

f) Undertake literature and database searches for the research project

g) Develop new techniques as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the research.

h) Display a professional attitude to matters of laboratory hygiene, organisation and safety

i) Any other relevant activities related to the project as appropriate.

This is a full time  (35 Hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31/01/2030.

About you:

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

Essential criteria

1. Strong publication record

2. Work experience with mice

3. Work experience in laboratory setting

4. Cell culture

5. Flow cytometry

6. Molecular Biology (RNA extraction, reverse transcription, qPCR)

7. Knowledge in vesicle biology and technologies

8. PhD in Neuroscience, Neuroimmunologuy, Immunology or related disciplines (or pending results

Desirable criteria

1. Rodent behavioural test

2. Experience in bioinformatics analysis

3. Immunohistochemistry and microscopy

4. Nanoparticle tracking analysis

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.

*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:

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 date/s TBC.

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.

Company info
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KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
Telephone
+(44)02078365454
Location
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