Research Associate

Research Associate

£43,093 - £50,834 per annum

Full time, Fixed term

Location:  White City Campus, I-Hub, Biofoundry

Ref: MED03903

The research project is funded as part of Imperial’s AI-Engineering Biology consortium and will be based at the London Biofoundry, a cutting-edge Engineering Biology lab on Imperial’s new White City campus with an integrated SynBio stack bringing together in-house DNA synthesis, high-throughput (HT) liquid handling, high-end plate readers, microscopes, flow cytometers, sequencers and analytical instruments to speed up the design-build-test cycle. The project will interface with several labs part of the AI-EB consortium at Imperial, UCL and Bristol. With support from the Biofoundry team, HT platforms for three applications will be established: i) E.coli-based cell-free system optimisation for ML driven pathway engineering; ii) metabolic network reconfiguration in E.coli feeding into ML models; and iii) an AI-driven exploration of functional sequence space in mammalian cells. All projects will leverage automation and parallelisation of experiments and benefit from close collaboration with domain experts and members of the newly established Imperial X initiative focusing Imperial’s AI expertise, which is also co-located with the Biofoundry.

Duties and responsibilities

• Plan, execute and analyse experiments
• Maintaining an up-to-date detailed knowledge of relevant and recent research literature
• To take initiatives in the planning of research
• To direct the work of small research teams
• To identify and develop suitable techniques, and apparatus, for the collection and analysis of data
• To conduct data analysis
• To maintain accurate and complete records of all findings
• To ensure the validity and reliability of data at all times
• To write reports for submission to research sponsors
• Prepare and present findings to colleagues at seminars and lab meetings
• Prepare and present findings to other researchers through scientific publications and conferences
• To submit publications to refereed journals
• To provide guidance to staff and students
• To attend relevant workshops and conferences as necessary
• To develop contacts and research collaborations within the College and the wider community
• To promote the reputation of the Group, the Department and the College
• To provide guidance to PhD students
• To maintain highly organised and accurate record of experimental Work
• To actively participate in the research programme of the Group and Unit
• To publish in high quality journals and to present data at national and international meetings
• To participate in Group/Unit research meetings and internal seminars.
• To collaborate with other allied scientists within Imperial College and elsewhere in London and abroad, as appropriate
• To contribute to the smooth running of the Group’s/Unit’s laboratories and, facilities with other scientists, clinicians, technicians and students within the laboratories
• Assist in the supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate research students and research assistants as required
• To comply with the College, Division, and Unit safety practices and to attend courses on safety when appropriate
• To train and supervise students or other members of the laboratories or collaborators Contribute to bids for research grants
• To conduct and plan own scientific work with appropriate supervision.
• Any other duties as may be deemed reasonable by Head of group as well as Head of Division.

Essential requirements

Experience within a research environment and good publication record in refereed academic journals

Experience in a broad range of techniques related to biochemistry and molecular biology

Experience with high-throughput cloning systems

Experience with SynBio approaches in bacterial systems

Experience with Cell-free technology

Experience with SynBio approaches in mammalian systems

Experience with automated liquid handlers

Experience with writing scientific research papers

Knowledge of research methods and statistical procedures for data analyses

Computer literate with working knowledge of Python or R

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant.

Further Information

The post is full time, fixed term, 18 months July 2023 - December 2024

Should you require any further details on the role please contact: Marko Storch – m.storch@imperial.ac.uk

Closing date: 26 June 2023.

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