Postdoctoral Project Research Scientist

Location: The Francis Crick Institute, London

Salary: From £45,500 per annum plus 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. Click here to learn more.

About the role 

This role is a joint collaboration between Sila Ultanir at the Francis Crick Institute and Mark Isalan at Imperial.

The Ultanir lab studies the roles of protein kinases in neuronal development and function. The Isalan lab has long worked on a zinc finger engineering platform for gene therapy (PMID 11433278, 23054839, 27600816). 

We are recruiting a motivated postdoctoral scientist to join the labs of Kinases and Brain Development https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/labs/sila-ultanir at the Francis Crick Institute, London, UK and Mark Isalan at Imperial College London https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/m.isalan. The postdoctoral scientist will run a translational project to develop zinc finger protein transactivators for treatment of a neurodevelopmental disorder. 

In this project, we aim to develop ZFPs which can upregulate CDKL2 mRNA expression and test if these can rescue molecular, cellular and behavioural defects in CDKL5 deficiency models. Postdoctoral researcher will generate and test zinc finger protein transactivators. They will then use CDKL5 knockout mouse models to determine if they can restore CDKL5-mediated functions at molecular and behavioural level. iPSC derived neurons of CDD models will also be used to test rescue of phosphorylation substrates. 

About you  

You will bring 

Essential

• PhD in biology, biochemistry, neuroscience or a related discipline or in the final stages of PhD submission
• Good knowledge of molecular biology skills
• Track record of writing papers as evidenced by publications or submitted manuscripts in referred journals
• Evidence of data presentation at scientific meetings

Desirable but not essential

• Experience in research with iPSC derived neurons
• Experience in RNA sequencing
• Experience in mass spectrometry
• Experience in neonatal brain injections or in utero electroporation
• Experience in mouse behavioural analysis 

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. 

We 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.

To apply for this role, please click on the 'Apply' button above.

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