Research Fellow in Biophysics and Translational Mechanobiology

About us

The post will sit within Dr Maxim Molodtsov’s research team at UCL and the Francis Crick Institute, which develops advanced instrumentation and biological approaches to understand how mechanical forces regulate cellular organisation in health and disease. The group’s work bridges cell biology, biophysics, mechanobiology, microscopy, and translational technology development, with a particular focus on measuring and manipulating forces inside living cells, tissues and organoids. Our main achievements include understanding how mechanical forces are generated by single molecules that organize cell genomes and mitotic spindles. We are also actively collaborating with other groups uncovering how mechanical forces generated by cells integrate to form tissues.

About the role

The main purpose of the role is to support the development, validation and translation of the magneto-mechanical profiling system for biological applications in both living cells and multicellular systems, including tissues and organoids. The postholder will help establish robust experimental workflows that use electromagnetic tweezers to apply and measure mechanical forces on functionalised magnetic micro- and nanoparticles at intracellular, cellular and tissue scales. The role will contribute to demonstrating how the platform can address fundamental questions in cell and tissue mechanics while also generating reproducible, user-accessible assays suitable for a pre-commercial prototype.

The postholder will be accountable for delivering high-quality experimental outputs. This will include developing and validating biological use cases, working with internal and external collaborators, producing well-documented protocols and data, and contributing to the evidence base required to position the technology for adoption by academic and industrial users. The role will strengthen the team’s capacity to translate mechanobiology instrumentation from a specialist research prototype into a broadly usable platform for intracellular force manipulation, organoid mechanics, disease modelling, drug discovery and related biomedical applications.

This role is available for 2 years in the first instance.

The panel will be shortlisting for this position on a rolling basis so apply early.

About you

You will have a PhD, in cell biology, biophysics, mechanobiology, bioengineering, physics, or a closely related discipline. You should have a strong interest in understanding how mechanical forces regulate cellular and tissue organisation and be motivated to work at the interface of fundamental biology, advanced instrumentation and translational technology development. You will have practical experience in mammalian cell culture, including experience with diverse cell types such as cancer cell lines, primary cells, or stem cell-derived systems. You will have experience with at least three of the following: live-cell imaging, microscopy, quantitative image analysis, cell culture, organoids, tissue models, molecular biology, biophysics or force-measurement, in vitro assay development, protein labelling or functionalisation and antibody or nanobody staining.

You will be a careful, creative and collaborative researcher who can design and troubleshoot experiments, analyse complex biological or biophysical data, and communicate findings clearly to colleagues from different disciplinary backgrounds. You should be enthusiastic about developing robust biological applications for new technology, including both intracellular assays and applications in tissues or organoids, and willing to contribute to a project with clear translational and commercial goals. Experience working in an industrial research environment such as a contract research organisation (CRO), pharmaceutical company, or biotech organisation is a plus, as is a genuine interest in spin-out development and the potential for this technology to benefit patients.

What we offer

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