Research Fellow

Job title:

Research Fellow

Company

University College London

Job description

About us This new post will work on an MRC funded project working closely between UCL (Brown and Nikolic) and the University of Oxford (Ferreira). The postholder will work within Professor Jeremy Brown’s research group, UCL Respiratory, Division of Medicine, UCL. Professor Brown (https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/5245-jeremy-brown/about) has investigated the pathogenesis and prevention of Streptococcus pneumoniae for over 20 years, resulting in multiple new findings and publications as well as phase 1 trials for two novel S. pneumoniae vaccine candidates, including live attenuated strains. Professor Ferreira (Oxford) has led the pneumococcal human colonisation model programme for 8 years, with over 2000 subjects successfully and safely undergoing human challenge with S. pneumoniae. This has led to >50 publications describing multiple new findings on S. pneumoniae/human host interactions, and the development of novel assays for assessing immune and epithelial responses to human infection. Brown and Ferreira have collaborated closely to deliver a MRC funded trial of live attenuated strains. Dr Nikolic (UCL Respiratory, https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/66646-marko-nikolic) is a leader in applying scRNAseq techniques to respiratory samples, including from human infection challenge models, resulting in multiple high impact publications.About the role Weare seeking a postdoctoral research associate to work for 30 months onanalysing responses to colonisation with wild type and mutant strains of Streptococcuspneumoniae in the human challenge model. This MRC-funded project arises from previous work investigating the protective efficacy of wild type andvirulence-attenuated mutant strains of S. pneumoniae at boosting immunity and preventing future re-colonisation (see DOI:10.1164/rccm.202302-0222OC and DOI:10.1164/rccm.202011-4161LE). The postdoctoral research associate will characterise epithelial and serological responses to human infection with these strains, initially using stored samples from thefirst human infection trial and then using new samples obtained by a second trial. The overall aim is to identify the mechanism(s) that prevent re-colonisation, additional effects of nasal administration of mutant strainson lung and systemic immunity, and how these relate to differences between mutant and wild type strains in their interactions with the nasopharyngealepithelium.
Within your application please outline how you meet essential criteria listed within Job Description.About you The applicants need to have been awarded a PhD and have prior experience of research in the fields of immunology, preferably related to infectious disease, and / or microbiology. Specific prior experience in analysing immunological or cellular responses to infection (including cell culture) would be highly desirable. Experience in bioinformatics would be advantageous.What we offer This is an exciting opportunity to join a multidisciplinary team working across the Division of Medicine. As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below: • 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days) • Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme • Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE) • Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan • Immigration loan • Relocation scheme for certain posts • On-Site nursery • On-site gym • Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay • Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service • Discounted medical insurance Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion As London’s Global University, we knowdiversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community torepresent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality ofopportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we allbelong. We therefore particularly encourageapplications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’sworkforce. These include people from Black, Asian andethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people Our department holds an Athena SWAN Silveraward, in recognition of our commitment and demonstrable impact in advancinggender equality.Available documents

Expected salary

Location

North West London

Job date

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 04:51:43 GMT

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