Pre-doctoral Research Assistant (Noursadeghi Team)

About us

We are seeking a pre-doctoral research assistant to join Prof. Mahdad Noursadeghi’s team in the Innate2Adaptive research group (https://www.innate2adaptive.uk) within the Division of Infection and Immunity at UCL.

Our group comprises a multi-disciplinary team of clinician and non-clinician scientists with expertise in laboratory science, human experimental medicine and bioinformatic/computational methodologies. Our work focuses on the immunology of infectious diseases, aiming to identify biomarkers for diagnostic and prognostic applications, and enabling development of novel vaccines and therapeutics.

About the role

The post is supported by Wellcome Trust, Royal Society and National Institute for Health Research grants focussing on T cell and macrophage immunology and treatment stratification in tuberculosis. We aim to (1) develop new approaches to stratify disease risk and preventive antibiotic therapy in people who become infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb); (2) inform the design of next-generation vaccines; and (3) identify novel targets for immunotherapies.

The post-holder will be responsible for laboratory experimental work encompassing molecular and cellular biology, immunological assays, host transcriptional profiling by RNA/T cell receptor sequencing, and assays of Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth/restriction. Specific objectives will include (1) evaluation of novel flow cytometric T cell assays to discriminate different stages in the natural history of Mtb infection and predict risk of disease; (2) identification of pMHC targets of public T cell metaclones and testing the relationship between TCR-pMHC affinities and T cell function; (3) exploring the mechanisms by which T cells and macrophage interactions contribute to protective and pathogenic immunity and mechanisms by which macrophage restriction of Mtb can be augmented; (4) developing a laboratory processing pipeline to enable biomarker-stratified preventive treatment for tuberculosis in a pilot rando mised-controlled trial.

The project involves close collaborations with additional data science, laboratory and computational immunology groups at UCL (led by Dr Rishi Gupta, Prof. Benny Chain, Prof. Hans Stauss and Dr Andreas Mayer), and our project partners in South Africa (Dr Al Leslie and Dr Munya Musvosvi) and in Madagascar (Dr Paulo Ranaivomanana).

The appointment will be for 2 years in the first instance, with the possibility of extension and/or registering for a part-time PhD degree. Informal enquiries regarding the vacancy can be made by email to Prof. Mahdad Noursadeghi.

About you

All applications must include a supporting statement to explain your motivation for the post and providing evidence using examples to showcase how you meet the essential criteria listed in the job description. Applications without a supporting statement will be rejected.

If you have any queries about the role or application process, have any technical issues, or need reasonable adjustments or a more accessible format to apply for this job online, please contact the staffing team at .

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits. Please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.

Customer advert reference: B02-08843

Advert information