research assistant Harwell, South East England, England
Job description
The Medical Research Council (MRC), as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has invested a total of £30m over 5 years through the Strategic Priorities Fund to establish a nucleic acid therapy accelerator (NATA) that will support state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research to solve critical issues in nucleic acid drug development and delivery, through focused NATA research challenges and a NATA infrastructure hub. This will be an internationally unique resource, drawing on world-leading academic expertise in partnership with the pharma and biotech sector to discover and test new ways of delivering oligonucleotide therapies and establishing a nexus of UK expertise in oligonucleotide therapy.
The NATA will focus on bringing together key stakeholders around the infrastructure hub while catalysing collaborative R&D activity with focused support to tackle significant barriers facing oligonucleotide therapy delivery. This investment will support capacity building in terms of equipment, upskilling and domain expertise that will be essential in developing critical mass to catalyse and de-risk the development of next generation nucleic acid therapies.
The Research Assistant will be critical in operating the NATA oligonucleotide in vitro and in vivo validation and pharmacology platforms. You will operate and maintain cell culture equipment and materials, undertake biological validation testing, lead compound screens and assess toxicology markers. Other general duties required are to ensure the smooth running of the NATA biology lab e.g. cell line database, materials traceability, consumables inventory, equipment maintenance.
You will assist colleagues in the validation of nucleic acid therapeutics for various translational and collaborative projects.
Responsibilities include:
- Perform the screening, hit validation and toxicology assessment of several classes of Nucleic Acid Therapeutics in an industrial and standardized way
- Take a proactive approach to learning and implementing new techniques and approaches
- Maintain, implement and culture the NATA cell line library (immortalized and primary) and generate stable cell lines as necessary
- Assist on in vivo based studies including cell sorting, microscopy/image analysis and tissue histopathology
- Assist in the preparation of RNA libraries and in the running of the RNA sequencing facility
- Manage instruments, reagents and biological resources efficiently
- Troubleshoot and maintain procedures and instrumentation
- Carry out target validation and efficacy assessment (using both mRNA/protein quantification methods) and analyse/report data (verbal and written report)
- Keep excellent scientific records and implement databases
- Present work internally
- Contribute to lab meetings
- Maintain a good knowledge of the relevant literature and of the wider field and actively promote this to the group
- Effectively manage resources
- Support the Lab Manager undertaking lab management duties such as lab and equipment maintenance, H&S administration, inventory, databases
Essential
Hold a relevant degree in Biology or related filed
Experience of working in a laboratory, preferably translational and related to Nucleic Acid Therapeutics
Expertise in tissue culture including culture of cells with different characteristics, primary cells, cell lines and genetically engineered cell lines
Experience in cell-based screening assays such as ELISA, luciferase, fluorescence and Western blotting
Experience in primer design and RT-PCR/qPCR protocols
Experience in high throughput cell-based screening assays
Fundamental knowledge in gene transcription, protein translation, RNA splicing and the regulation of gene expression
Experience in data analysis and interpretation
Computer literacy is essential for the analysis, recording and communication of results
Ability to manage resources
Ability to analyse data
Demonstrate ability to write scientifically
Capable of critical thinking
Working and adhering to standard operating procedures and experience of process analysis and refinement
Organised, hard-working with a strong eye for detail and is able to work as part of a team
Demonstrate ability to mean milestones
Flexible and adaptable, able to manage changing priorities
Good communication skills and effective engagement with colleagues, collaborators or general public
Desirable
Interdisciplinary interests with an emphasis for chemistry or pharmacology in a translational context
Experience in tissue/serum/urine analysis
Experience of the analysis of oligonucleotides; quantification, localization, protein interactions
Experience with Nucleic Acid technologies including antisense and RNA interference
Experience of large data set analysis
Experience of confocal microscopy and image analysis
Experience of database management
Experience of platform management
Experience of in vivo delivery
Choosing to come to work at the MRC (part of UKRI) means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme and excellent holiday entitlement to access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme, as well as the chance to put the MRC and UKRI on your CV in the future.
Our success is dependent upon our ability to embrace diversity and draw on the skills, understanding and experience of all our people. We welcome applications from all sections of the community irrespective of gender, race, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability or age. As "Disability Confident" employers, we guarantee to interview all applicants with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.
UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider whether this conflicts with your personal values or beliefs.
We will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as an essential part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check. The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.
