Research Associate in Biochemical Engineering

Job description:

Working Pattern:

Full time, fixed term 01/07/2026 - 30/11/2026

Are you interested in working for a world top 100 University? We have an exciting opportunity in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sheffield, for someone with a passion for fermentation, looking to use their skills in scaling up the production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates, a family of sustainable, biodegradable and biocompatible bacteria derived polymers, to make an impact on the sustainable materials world, especially for use in biomedical applications.

You will join the internationally renowned group led by Professor Ipsita Roy (https://sheffield.ac.uk/cmbe/people/cbe-academic-staff/ipsita-roy), specialist in the area of Natural Polymers of bacterial origin, within the Engineering for Health research group in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering. Professor Roy’s group is world leading in the area of Biomaterials with special focus on Biomaterials of bacterial origin including Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), Bacterial Cellulose, Polyglutamic acid and Alginate; and their biomedical applications.

You will be funded by a Royce Industrial Collaboration Program Round 6 funded project “PHA based Nerve Guidance Conduits for Peripheral Nerve Repair”. This project is in collaboration with PHAsT Limited (https://phast-tech.com), a spin out from the RoyLab. The project will involve the production of Polyhydroxyalkanoate-based Nerve Guidance conduits (NGCs) used for the repair of peripheral nerves post injury. NGCs are tubular scaffolds which are sutured within the gap of the two broken ends of an injured nerve, providing guidance to the broken nerves to regenerate and grow.

The ideal candidate will at least have a PhD degree in Biochemical Engineering or a related area, with special focus on the scaling up of bacterial fermentations for the optimal production of products. It will be an added advantage if you have experience in Polyhydroxyalkanoate production via bacterial fermentation. You will be an enthusiastic, hardworking, organised, and dedicated scientist with the ability to efficiently plan and implement your work with high quality.

We’re one of the best not-for-profit organisations to work for in the UK. The University’s Total Reward Package includes a competitive salary, a generous Pension Scheme and annual leave entitlement, as well as access to a range of learning and development courses to support your personal and professional development.

We build teams of people from different heritages and lifestyles from across the world, whose talent and contributions complement each other to greatest effect. We believe diversity in all its forms delivers greater impact through research, teaching and student experience.

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