Post-Doctoral Research Associate

Full-time: 35 hours per week 

Fixed term: for 24 months in the first instance 

The Opportunity:  

Cancer Grand Challenges – from DNA damage to the mechanisms of mutagenesis 

We are looking to employ a post-doctoral researcher to join the group of Professor Martin Taylor at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer (IGC), working to understand the mechanisms that drive mutagenesis. In this post you will be a key member of the international Cancer Grand Challenges CAUSE team mechanistically relating DNA damage to the mutations it generates. This is pioneering research in a highly collaborative international team embedded within a well-supported, collegiate and enthusiastic research group. 

This specific role is will drive the development and application of technologies to detect and map DNA damage and modifications within the human genome. You will produce DNA sequencing libraries containing known non-canonical nucleotides for training machine learning models in the decoding of primary DNA sequencing data. You will develop, refine and validate the machine learning approaches for the probabilistic detection and quantification of non-canonical nucleotides. ONT Nanopore and PacBio HiFi sequencing will be the primary initial platforms for data generation and model training. Knowledge and experience of these platforms would be an advantage. 

The successful candidate will have experience in molecular biology and nucleic acid manipulation, and experience in the training of machine learning models on time-series-like data. You will have ownership of your own projects and work closely with experts in biochemistry, high-accuracy mutation detection and the analysis of mass-spectrometry data. 

The post holder will have many opportunities for multidisciplinary collaborative working both within the IGC and with CAUSE partners based at the Sanger Institute, Hubrecht Institute, Harvard University, University of San Diego and University of Minnesota. The wider Cancer Grand Challenge community will also provide excellent opportunities for training, professional and network development. 

Applicants must have a PhD in molecular biology or a related discipline for appointment at Research Associate level. Applicants close to completion of their PhDs will also be considered where experience is directly relevant. Please see the job description and person specification document associated with this advert for the full list of criteria.

Apply Before: 29/05/2026, 23:59

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