Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Spatial Biology & Bioinformatics

The University of Oxford is a stimulating work environment, which enjoys an international reputation as a world-class centre of excellence. Our research plays a key role in tackling many global challenges, from reducing our carbon emissions to developing vaccines during a pandemic.

 

The Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) is part of the Medical Sciences Division and is the largest European academic department in its field, running a globally competitive programme of research and teaching. The Kennedy Institute is a biomedical research centre uniquely bringing together discovery science and early-stage clinical research, to develop transformative new therapies for chronic inflammatory and musculoskeletal conditions.

 

 

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ wellbeing and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including:

 

•             An excellent contributory pension scheme

•             38 days annual leave

•             A comprehensive range of childcare services

•             Family leave schemes

•             Cycle loan scheme

•             Discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans

•             Membership to a variety of social and sports clubs

 

 

You will contribute to a Royal Society funded project investigating the mechanical determinants of cell fate decisions and tissue dynamics in lung regeneration and fibrosis. Using a pioneering approach called spatial mechanomics (A. Hallou, et al. Nature Methods 22, 737–750, 2025), this project aims to characterise the spatial changes in cell and tissue mechanics, as well as gene and protein expression, that occur in lung fibrosis, using spatial multi-omics and mechanical data collected from patient tissue samples and mouse models.

 

As part of the role you will write and maintain bioinformatics and AI / ML data analysis pipelines for single-cell and spatial multi-omics data and perform analysis on these spatial multimodal datasets for collaborative projects with colleagues in partner institutions and research groups.

 

 

You will hold a PhD/ DPhil (or near completion) in a discipline of direct relevance to computational single-cell and spatial genomics (bioinformatics, computer science, applied mathematics, physics, etc). You will have strong demonstrable competence with the programming languages Python and R, and with the writing of bioinformatics and AI / ML analysis pipelines for  spatial transcriptomics / proteomics data and/or single-cell genomics data. You will be highly motivated and able to use own initiative to solve problems and have excellent communication skills. You will advise other members of the group on computational and AI/ML techniques and provide supervision of technical staff and research students, including training and mentorship.

A track record of contributions to open-source community bioinformatics code projects (such as e.g. Bioconductor) and working knowledge and interest in cell and tissue mechanobiology and biophysics is highly desirable.

 

 

The University of Oxford is committed to equality and valuing diversity. All applicants will be judged on merit, according to the selection criteria.

 

Applications for this vacancy should be made online and must include a CV and a supporting statement explaining how you meet the selection criteria, using examples of your skills and experience.

 

Interviews will take place during week commencing 30 March 2026 and will be online

 

Please quote reference 185130 in all correspondence.

Type / Role:

Subject Area(s):

Location(s):