Laboratory Technician - Crop Cultivation and Microbial Ecology

Location: Silwood Park Campus

Job Summary

The Graystock Microbial Ecology Lab is looking for a motivated, detail-oriented Laboratory Technician to assist with a large project seeking to engineer soil microbiomes to protect crops from disease.

Your role will include assisting with the collection of soil samples from around the UK, and help cultivate wheat both in the lab and in the field. Due to the microbial component of the project, you will also be required to maintain clean, sterile techniques when performing these duties. Working in the Graystock Lab at Silwood Park in Berkshire, you will collaborate with a large team of researchers seeking to develop a microbial solution to reduce one of the most important root diseases of wheat worldwide (take-all disease). You will be part of a team of 2 technicians, 5 post-doctoral researchers and 5 Principal Investigators, all based at Silwood, all exploring this specific project to develop a new ‘Green Revolution’.

This research will be conducted at the Silwood Park Campus of Imperial College London, a globally renowned centre for theoretical and applied ecology. Silwood Park hosts an 80-hectare nature reserve and has close transportation links to central London. 

Duties and responsibilities

You will:

• Communicate regularly with Dr. Peter Graystock and other members of his lab and the Green Revolution team to plan and execute tasks in a timely fashion
• Maintain Wheat cultivations at Silwood Park
• Assist with soil and microbe collections and transplants from these cultivated crops
• Assist with soil sample collections at UK field site visits
• Record and quality-check sample collections
• Help maintain and organize laboratory facilities to support the work described above.

Essential requirements

Skills essential to the position are:

• Ability to communicate clearly, collaborate effectively within diverse groups, and deliver progress by mutually agreed deadlines 
• Good proficiency with laboratory tasks (e.g., maintaining sterile practices, using micropipettes, notetaking, sample organisation)
• Experience growing plants in controlled conditions.

Preferred candidates may have:

• An undergraduate degree in ecology, earth/environmental science, geology, or a related field
• Experience with wheat cultivation
• Experience with plant-microbe interactions.

Further Information

The full-time, fixed term for up to 36 months. You will be based at Silwood Park Campus.

Candidates are expected to start in June 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Please contact Dr. Peter Graystock (p.graystock@imperial.ac.uk) for further information on the position.

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