Postdoctoral Fellow - Hill Lab

Location: The Francis Crick Institute, London

Salary: From £45,500 with benefits, subject to skills and experience

About us…  

The Francis Crick Institute is Europe’s largest biomedical research institute under one roof. Our world-class scientists and staff collaborate on vital research to help prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative conditions. 

To learn more about the Crick, click here.

About the role…  

The Developmental Signalling Laboratory headed by Caroline Hill focuses on cell signalling in early vertebrate development and disease - see https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/a-z-researchers/researchers-d-j/caroline-hill/. Their work seeks to understand how TGF-b family signalling pathways function normally in early vertebrate development and in adult untransformed cells, and how these signalling pathways are perturbed in disease, in particular in cancer and the Marfan-related syndromes. 

What you will be doing…  

Recent work in my lab has determined that mesoderm and endoderm specification in zebrafish embryos requires the interplay of two signalling pathways, Nodal and Fgf/Erk. We have shown that the distribution of endodermal progenitors results from a stochastic process where sustained Nodal signalling provides a competency window for the switching of bipotential progenitors to an endodermal fate. 

The project will make use of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) differentiated as 2D and 3D gastruloids. We will multiplex our novel Erk biosensor with live cell fate reporters to discover whether and how Erk signalling is involved in the cell fate decision between definitive endoderm and mesoderm. Furthermore, we will use multiomics scRNA-seq and scATAC-seq methodology, as well as whole genome CRISPR screening approaches to gain unbiased new insights into the mechanisms driving the specification of the mesodermal and endodermal lineages in humans.

Postdoctoral Fellows at the Crick 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. 

About you…  

You will bring…  

• PhD in a relevant biological science
• Excellent knowledge and demonstrable practical experience of working with embryonic stem cells
• Extensive technical expertise in differentiating embryonic stem cells to different tissue types as 2D and 3D gastruloids
• Technical expertise in advanced live imaging
• Technical expertise in molecular biology
• Excellent track record of writing papers as evidenced by publications or submitted manuscripts in referred journals 

About Working at the Crick… 

Our values  

• We are bold. We make space for creative, dynamic and imaginative ideas and approaches. We’re not afraid to do things differently. 
• We are open. We’re highly collaborative and interactive, and make sure our activities are visible to the outside world. 
• We are collegial. We show respect for one another, work cooperatively and support the wider community. 

At the Crick, we believe that diversity and inclusion are essential to driving innovation and scientific discovery. If you need assistance with your application, please contact weronika.kucala@crick.ac.uk

To read more about our EDI approach, click here.   

What will you receive?  

We value our team members and are proud to offer an extensive range of benefits to support their well-being and development. You can find out more about what we offer here.

Advert information