Postdoctoral Project Research Scientist

Location: The Francis Crick Institute, Midland Road, London

Contract: Permanent, Full time/Part time

Short summary

The Postdoctoral Project Research Scientist will carry out research on transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms underlying the initiation, progression and immune control of human cancer. Particular emphasis will be placed on endogenous retroviruses and other endogenous retroelements that current work in the lab has identified as cancer-specific. The focus is the creation of novel or alteration of existing gene function, through co-option of endogenous retroelements in cancer, and the creation of cancer-specific antigens through transcriptional activation of typically repressed endogenous retroviruses. 

The Research Group

This role will be pivotal in ensuring continuation of research on endogenous retroviruses in human cancer in the Kassiotis lab at the Francis Crick Institute:

Lab web page: https://www.crick.ac.uk/george-kassiotis

The Postdoctoral Project Research Scientist will lead their own projects, contribute to other projects on a collaborative basis (both in the lab and with external collaborators) and may guide PhD students in their research. The ability to work in a team is essential.

Key Responsibilities

• Designing, performing, analysing and interpreting experiments to investigate the exaptation of endogenous retroelements in the context of human cancer, which will be studied in humans as well as animal models
• Working within a team that carries out research on immune reactivity to retroviral antigens in the context of infection and cancer.
• Carrying out the processing, analysis and integration of distinct next generation sequencing and multiple ‘omics’ data.
• Using existing, and developing and maintaining pipelines for the analysis of multiple ‘omics’ data. 

Key experience and competencies

Essential

• PhD in cancer biology, computational biology or related disciplines (or in the final stages of completion)
• A strong background in statistical analyses
• A strong background in state-of-the-art cell biology techniques
• Experience in the analysis of next generation sequencing data 

About us

The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical discovery institute dedicated to understanding the fundamental biology underlying health and disease. Its work is helping to understand why disease develops and to translate discoveries into new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, infections, and neurodegenerative diseases.

An independent organisation, its founding partners are the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL, Imperial College London and King’s College London.

The Crick was formed in 2015, and in 2016 it moved into a new state-of-the-art building in central London which brings together 1500 scientists and support staff working collaboratively across disciplines, making it the biggest biomedical research facility under in one building in Europe.

The Francis Crick Institute will be world-class with a strong national role. Its distinctive vision for excellence includes commitments to collaboration; developing emerging talent and exporting it the rest of the UK; public engagement; and helping turn discoveries into treatments as quickly as possible to improve lives and strengthen the economy. 

• If you are interested in applying for this role, please apply via our website.
• All offers of employment are subject to successful security screening and continuous eligibility to work in the United Kingdom.

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