Research Assistant in Immunology

Job summary

This post is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Imperial Immunology theme. The NIHR Imperial BRC supports research that translates scientific discoveries into new treatments, diagnostics and medical technologies, benefitting patients and communities locally and internationally. The collaboration between Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London provides...

Job listing information

• Reference MED03984
• Date posted 18 July 2023
• Closing date 18 August 2023

Key information about the role

• Location Hammersmith Campus - On site only

• Position type Full time, fixed term
• Salary £40,694 – £43,888 plus benefits

• Department Department of Immunology and Inflammation
• Category Researcher / Clinical Researcher

Job description

Job summary

This post is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Imperial Immunology theme. The NIHR Imperial BRC supports research that translates scientific discoveries into new treatments, diagnostics and medical technologies, benefitting patients and communities locally and internationally. The collaboration between Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London provides research infrastructure across both organisations as well as funding specific projects and training schemes.

As part of NIHR’s latest tranche of BRC funding, Imperial BRC has been awarded £95.3 million for 2022-2027 to continue its leading programme of translational research and represents the largest award from NIHR for this round of funding. The Immunology Theme is a component of the NIHR Imperial BRC. Our remit is the study chronic immune disorders with a significant health and economic burden due to the potential to cause organ failure, if not recognised early, and the requirement for complex immunosuppression protocols.

The theme focuses on diseases relevant to our local population grouped into: (i) antibody-mediated disorders; (ii) thrombo-inflammation; (iii) glomerulonephritis and (iv) renal transplantation. We combine the world-leading immunology and inflammation expertise within our academic Centres for Inflammatory Disease and Haematology with the translational expertise of our multidisciplinary Clinical Centres.

This supports our aims: to ensure timely and accurate diagnosis; to fully optimise immunosuppression treatment; and to explore novel therapeutics. This position will provide research support on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) and Kidney Transplantation.

Duties and responsibilities

The post will provide technical support for the development of tissue banks for the immunology theme for the BRC. This will involve (i) collecting blood samples from patients attending the SLE and Kidney Transplantation clinics; (ii) processing and storage of samples following standard operating procedures; and (iii) updating clinical databases to maintain accurate and timely phenotyping of research samples.

Essential requirements

We are looking for candidates with Masters in Biology or a closely related discipline, or equivalent research, industrial or commercial experience. It is essential that you can work independently and collaboratively and have knowledge of research databases and clinical sample collection and storage.

Further information

This is a full time and fixed term post until November 2025. You will be based at the Hammersmith Campus (East Acton).

Should you require any further details on the role please contact: Matthew Pickering – matthew.pickering@imperial.ac.uk.

As this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, at the appropriate level, will be required for the successful candidate.

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes which are ultimately aimed towards finding new treatments and making scientific and medical advances, and where there are no satisfactory or reasonably practical alternatives to their use. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level. Find out more about animal research at Imperial.