Technician

Job description:

We have an exciting opportunity in the Division of Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Population Health, for an enthusiastic and committed research technician looking to use their technical skills in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) and neuronal models to make an impact on our understanding of Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) and the development of potential therapeutic approaches.

You will join the laboratories of Dr Matt Livesey, Prof Dame Pam Shaw and Profs Hautbergue, Mead and Mortiboys at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), working closely and alongside a postdoctoral researcher and a wider multidisciplinary team of researchers and technical colleagues. SITraN is an internationally recognised centre of excellence for research into neurodegenerative diseases and therapeutic development.

You will work in a well-connected research environment with expertise spanning neurodegenerative disease, iPSC models, neuronal biology, electrophysiology and therapeutic development. The role will provide an opportunity to contribute to collaborative research investigating the cellular mechanisms underlying FA and the effects of novel therapeutic compounds.

You will use your experience in iPSC culture and laboratory-based research to provide essential technical support to the FA research programme, helping to ensure the successful delivery of experimental work and high-quality research outputs.

You will play a key role in maintaining our reputation for high-quality, reproducible translational neuroscience research through the careful maintenance and generation of iPSC-derived neuronal models, accurate data collection, maintenance of research records and effective laboratory organisation.

As this role involves a range of complementary experimental approaches, it provides an excellent opportunity to develop and broaden your technical skills in iPSC culture, neuronal models and neuroscience research techniques. Depending on experience and project requirements, there will also be opportunities to contribute to immunocytochemistry, fluorescence microscopy, patch-clamp electrophysiology and RNA-sequencing approaches.

This role offers you the opportunity to develop your research and technical expertise by playing a key part in a collaborative programme investigating disease mechanisms and therapeutic responses in FA.

In this varied role, you will be responsible for supporting the maintenance, expansion and differentiation of iPSC cultures and the generation of iPSC-derived neurons. Working alongside the postdoctoral researcher and wider laboratory team, the role will offer you an opportunity to contribute to experimental planning, data collection, troubleshooting and the development of laboratory methods.

With responsibility for maintaining high-quality cell cultures and experimental records, you will add substantial benefit to the research programme by ensuring experiments are conducted accurately, reproducibly and efficiently. Other key aspects of the role will include supporting laboratory organisation, maintaining equipment and reagents, and contributing to a safe and effective research environment.

Educated to Honours degree level or equivalent in Neuroscience, Biological Sciences, Biomedical Sciences or a related subject, you will have demonstrable experience of laboratory-based research and working collaboratively as part of a research team. As you will be responsible for supporting iPSC-based research, experience of iPSC culture and differentiation into neuronal cell types would be a significant advantage.

If you are passionate about neuroscience research and using advanced cellular models to understand neurodegenerative disease, then we would love to hear from you.

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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