Research Associate

About us:

King’s College London is a world leading research-intensive university. The Centre for Rheumatic Diseases, Department of Inflammation Biology, School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences, is looking to recruit an enthusiastic postdoctoral research associate to investigate chromatin conformation signatures in individuals at risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. This work is funded by Arthritis UK and follows on from a successful clinical trial, published in the Lancet, demonstrating that rheumatoid arthritis can be prevented by treating people at risk with immune modulatory therapy. The successful candidate will work with the King’s team on the Guy’s Campus in collaboration with partners at the Universities of Leeds, Birmingham and Glasgow, and with our biotechnology partner Oxford Biodynamics who have developed genome-wide and qPCR tools to detect changes in chromatin architecture.

About the role:

The successful candidate will undertake a laboratory-based research project aimed at understanding the mechanism whereby individuals at risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) progress to disease (Signatures of Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis: the SORIRA study). This will involve investigating cellular and molecular processes in immune cell subsets, including T-cells, that lead to changes in chromatin architecture at genomic loci likely to regulate the expression of immunologically important genes. This work will involve in vitro cell-based assays, protocols for T helper cell activation and differentiation, immune phenotyping and gene targeting approaches. In silico analyses, including using R studio and Python, will support this work. There will also be opportunities to study the relationship between genetic variants acquired from genome-wide association studies and genome wide changes in chromatin.  The successful candidate will also be expected to contribute to project management of the SORIRA study and its collaborations.

This is a full-time post 35 hours per week, and you will be offered a fixed-term contract until 30^th September 2030.

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About you:
(the candidate)

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills & experience:

Essential criteria

1. A PhD in immunology, molecular biology, or other relevant subject
2. Experience in immune cell-based work
3. Experience in immune phenotyping and flow cytometry
4. Experience in basic molecular biology methods, including analysis of gene expression

Desirable criteria

1. Previous experience in analysis of large genomic datasets
2. Previous experience in gene targeting approaches
3. Previous experience in research relating to T cell immunobiology
4. Experience of coding in R studio and/or Python
5. Previous experience in project management

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

*  Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. 

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