Research Associate

About Us

The School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences (SCMMS), is one of six schools that make up the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine (FoLSM) at King College London. The School drives translation of world-leading basic science into advances in clinical practices with activities focusing on the Cardiac Biomedicine Department of Diabetes and Vascular Biomedicine.    

About The Role

Applications are invited for the position of Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Diabetes at King’s College London (KCL), working in the laboratories of Prof Gavin Bewick.

The role focuses on delivering a high-impact translational research programme that dissects how neuropeptide Y5 receptor (Y5R) signalling in islet-resident immune cells can be harnessed to prevent or delay Type 1 diabetes, ultimately generating a compelling mechanistic and pre-clinical evidence base to support future clinical development. The post holder will drive studies that define how Y5R activation reprogrammes resident macrophages and other islet immune subsets towards a restorative, anti-inflammatory phenotype, identify key signalling pathways and biomarkers of efficacy, and test whether Y5R agonism can block pathogenic macrophage and T cell trafficking to, and destruction of, islets in both mouse and human model systems. A central purpose of the role is to bridge fundamental mechanistic immunology with translational proof-of-concept, using cutting-edge omics, advanced imaging, and in vivo models to de-risk Y5R agonists as a novel disease-modifying strategy for Type 1 diabetes.

The researcher will be responsible to the Principal Investigator, Prof Gavin Bewick, who holds overall scientific and technical accountability for the project, and will work closely with co-applicants and collaborators including experts in macrophage biology, multi-omic and regulatory network analysis, and clinical translation of investigational therapies in Type 1 diabetes. Day-to-day, the post holder will be responsible for planning, executing, analysing and interpreting complex experiments spanning bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing of resident islet immune populations, macrophage functional assays (innate sensing, phagocytosis, antigen presentation, polarization, cytokine and growth factor secretion), and transwell-based invasion and migration platforms using reformed mouse and human islets. The role carries responsibility for ensuring experimental quality and reproducibility, coordinating sample acquisition from human islet biobanks and animal colonies, and integrating multi-modal datasets in collaboration with bioinformatics partners to define Y5R-dependent regulatory networks and therapeutic pathways.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 15 months from start of contract.

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