Research Fellow

About the role

A new post has arisen to work for 3 years (in the first instance) on a project grant funded by Children with Cancer UK. The work in the project is focused on understanding the metastatic dissemination of paediatric brain tumours, with focus on medulloblastoma. Medulloblastoma is not made up of one single type of cancer cell. Instead, it's a complex mixture of different "clones" or groups of cells, each with their own unique characteristics. Some of these clones are more likely to survive treatment or spread to other parts of the body, but we don’t yet know why. Existing studies have mainly looked backwards, at tumour samples after treatment has failed, which limits our ability to understand how these dangerous clones evolve and spread in real time. Our project aims to fill this knowledge gap by using cutting-edge technology to track individual tumour cells over time, essentially creating a “family tree” of cancer cell evolution. By tagging each cell with a uni que DNA barcode and following their behaviour before and after treatment, we can determine which clones are the most dangerous, how they resist therapy, and what makes them capable of spreading. The salary offered in this post is £45,103 per annum and is funded until 14/05/2029 in the first instance.

About you

Work in our laboratory is focussed on understanding metastatic and recurrent biology and the development of cellular immunotherapies for childhood brain tumours. The successful applicant will join an existing team of researchers with a focus in this area. The successful candidate will initiate a large barcoding initiative and support the completion of an ongoing second manuscript describing a novel genetically engineered mouse model of metastatic medulloblastoma. We are looking for an applicant who has a PhD and experience in the field of molecular biology for cancer and ideally who has recent experience of RNA-sequencing, flow cytometry, molecular cloning, transduction and orthotopic animal models. Previous experience with molecular cloning and animal models is essential. The post holder will join a team of scientists at ICH as well as linking with the collaborating groups at the partner Institutions in the collaboration. Main purpose summarised as follows: • Working on tw o research projects to better understand the dissemination of medulloblastoma, and complete an ongoing project describing a novel metastatic model of medulloblastoma. • The planning and execution of experiments with a focus on molecular barcoding and metastatic cascade in vivo. • Developing or consolidating expertise in multi-arm animal therapeutics trials in tumour bearing mice, employing orthotopic brain tumour models • Working with the project leads and other team members working on related studies at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health to share data and resources

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