research assistant Kew Gardens, England
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Job description
This two-year post will be based in the unique environment of Kew, taking advantage of state-of-the-art analytical chemistry and flow cytometry facilities to analyse specimens from Kew’s extensive plant collections. The successful applicant will generate new chemical data on the terpenoid diversity across the plant genus Achillea and explore whether this is influenced by ploidy (the number of genomes within a species) to provide new insights into which species could be sources of bioactive molecules.
The project will contribute to Kew’s Strategic Science Priority 2 (Biointeractions and Bioactive Molecules) by combining chemistry, genomics and phylogenetic prediction to identify bioactive molecules with potential to enhance human health, and offers an exciting opportunity to collaborate with the Synthetic Biology group at the Earlham Institute, Norwich and hence contribute to the newly launched ‘DECODE’ strategic programme (2023-2027), which aims to decode the scale and complexity of living systems.
Person specification
This two-year fixed term appointment as a postdoctoral researcher will involve the analysis of specimens from Kew’s extensive plant collections using in-house chemical analysis facilities, including NMR spectroscopy and LC-MS, and the application of natural product chemistry methods to isolate plant compounds and elucidate their chemical structures.
The successful applicant will have a PhD in natural product chemistry of plants, or a related relevant specialist subject, and will join a multi-disciplinary team, through collaboration across the Biological Chemistry and Character Evolution teams within Kew’s Trait Diversity and Function Science Priority. The successful postdoctoral researcher, who will be based at Kew in London, will have experience of analytical chemistry methods including LC-MS and in separation methods to isolate compounds from plants. Experience of NMR spectroscopy and structural elucidation of plant compounds, and an understanding of polyploidy and phylogenetic analyses using genomic data, are desirable skills for this role.
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This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
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We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
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