Research Associate in Computational Immunology

Location: Hammersmith Campus (East Acton)

Job Summary:

The Liver Immunology Group includes a close collaboration between scientists and clinicians, and conducts basic, translational, and clinical research. We study the cellular, molecular, microbial, and metabolic crosstalk underlying immune dysregulation during acute and chronic liver injury. To explore this, we use human tissue samples and in vivo models of liver injury and various advanced technological tools such as intravital imaging, tissue multiplex staining or genetic sequencing. Our research aims to improve our immunological understanding of disease pathogenesis and identify targets for developing new immunomodulatory therapies.

This UKRI MRC funded postdoctoral position will focus on studying immune dysregulation in liver disease mediated by checkpoint pathways (e.g., PD-1/PD-L axis). The post-doc scientist will be based in the Section of Hepatology and Gastroenterology (Hammersmith Campus) and work alongside Dr Evangelos Triantafyllou (PI), the team, and collaborators [Drs Prakash Ramachandran (Edinburgh), Mark McPhail (King’s College London) and Pinelopi Manousou (Imperial College London)].

The post holder will use mouse models of liver injury and human tissue samples, combined with a range of cutting-edge techniques including single-cell RNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics, and flow cytometry. We anticipate that combination of these approaches will provide novel insights into the immunobiology of checkpoint pathways e.g., PD-1/PD-L, and will improve our understanding of their immunological control of liver injury/fibrosis, and regulation of immune cell responses in the liver microenvironment.

The ideal candidate will have good knowledge of immunology and computational background and is expected to hold excellent communication skills and genuine enthusiasm for exploring the interface between computational and experimental biology using the above approaches.

Duties and responsibilities:

• Conduct and facilitate a research programme using human samples, in vitro assays, and in vivo models.
• Plan and carry out wet-lab experiments and manage transgenic colonies.
• Apply and develop established and innovative computational approaches for the analysis of different multiomics datasets (e.g., scRNA-seq. CITE-seq).
• Work collaboratively with experimental and computational scientists to address complex and diverse biological problems.
• Assist with the data collection/analysis and ensure data validity and reliability.
• Provide guidance and supervision for student projects and/or instruction of students in the use of equipment, and bioinformatic analysis approaches.

Essential requirements:

• Research Associate: Hold or be about to obtain a PhD degree in Computational Science, Genetics, Computational Biology, Immunology, Biological Sciences, Precision Medicine, or related discipline.
• Research Assistant: Near completion of a PhD degree in Computational Science, Genetics, Computational Biology, Immunology, Biological Sciences, Precision Medicine, or related discipline.

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant.

• Lab-based research, lab organisation experience
• Tissue cell isolation, flow cytometric analysis
• Tissue multiplex immunofluorescence, confocal microscopy
• Molecular biology, transcriptional profiling

Further Information:

This is a full-time and fixed-term post for 36 months. You will be based at the Hammersmith Campus (East Acton). Commencement period: late summer 2023.

Should you require any further details on the role please contact Dr Evangelos Triantafyllou (e.triantafyllou@imperial.ac.uk).

Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as a Research Assistant within the salary range £38,194 - £41,388 per annum.

To apply, visit www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs and search by the job reference MED03764.

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