Research Fellow

Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049 with potential progression once in post to £48,822

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract 5 years 

Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) is the process by which tumour cells imitate blood vessels allowing tumours to grow far more aggressively and independent of a traditional blood vessel network. We have found this process to be abundant in paediatric soft tissue sarcomas (particularly Rhabdomyosarcoma RMS), driven by developmental plasticity and enriched in relapsed and metastatic cases where there are few effective treatment options and 5-year survival below 20%.

The Wragg group is looking for an exceptional candidate to work on a 5-year UKRI Medical Research Council funded project to define the mechanism of vasculogenic mimicry in RMS, Identify therapies that modulate VM and understand their mechanisms and Develop VM-targeted therapeutics. The project combines in vitro and in vivo tumour and blood vessel modelling, tissue histology, advanced imaging, single cell transcriptomics and bioinformatics approaches.

The successful applicant will have the opportunity to collaborate with researchers across the College of Medicine and Health in cancer and genomic, cardiovascular and metabolic sciences, as well as national and international collaborators with opportunities for personal and professional development within research leadership, teaching and fellowship mentoring.

Person Specification:

• Essential: A PhD relevant to the research area (or near completion), or equivalent PhD level qualifications.
• Essential: Demonstrable research experience, or detailed knowledge of either tumour microenvironment modelling or vascular biology, with a combination of both being desirable
• Essential: Proficient skills in cell culture, 3D and co-culture assays, confocal microscopy and transcriptional profiling.
• Essential: Evidence of having developed or invented new methods and the ability to learn new approaches outside of current expertise.
• Desirable: Completion of PIL-A/B training by the Home Office and experience of in vivo modelling in zebrafish and/or mice.
• Desirable: Previous publication(s) as first author, presentations (talks or posters) at national or international conferences.
• High level analytical capability
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Fluency in relevant models, techniques or methods and ability to contribute to developing new ones
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively.
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes
• Ability to contribute to the planning and organising of the research programme and/or specific research project
• Co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics and duties under the Equality Act 2010. Including fostering good relations and advancing the universities Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

Shortlisted candidates will be required to deliver a 10-minute presentation on a research project they have previously been involved in.

For further details and informal enquiries please contact Joseph Wragg (j.wragg@bham.ac.uk)

To download the full job description and details of this position and submit an electronic application online please click on the 'Apply' button above.

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