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About Us
The School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences (SCMMS) is one of six schools that make up the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine (FoLSM) at King College London. The school drives translation of world-leading basic science into advances in clinical practices with activities focusing on the Cardiac Biomedicine Department of Diabetes and Vascular Biomedicine.
About The Role
Applications are invited for the position of Research Assistant in the Department of Diabetes at King’s College London (KCL), working in the laboratories of Prof. Gavin Bewick.
The assistant will play a central supporting role in delivering a complex, multidisciplinary research programme that investigates cilia as a novel therapeutic target in Type 1 diabetes, ensuring that day-to-day experimental work runs efficiently, reliably and to a high technical standard. The primary purpose of the role is to provide skilled laboratory support across the project, generating high-quality data in molecular biology and cell-based assays that will underpin mechanistic insights into how cilia dysfunction alters islet architecture, immune infiltration and immune cell interactions. Working closely with the Dr. Haq, the assistant will help implement and optimise protocols, maintain accurate records and sample inventories, and support the integration of datasets required to map cilia gene and protein networks in mouse and human islets.
The post holder will be responsible to Dr Naila Haq as Principal Investigator and will be embedded within the Department of Diabetes at King’s College London, contributing to a collaborative team that includes academic, technical and bioinformatics staff as well as external partners at Exeter, Cardiff, UCL and international biobanks. We are looking for someone with a good undergraduate and/or Masters degree in a relevant field (e.g., cell/molecular biology, biochemistry or life/biological sciences) and a strong background in cell and molecular biology The assistant will be responsible for supporting a range of experimental approaches, including preparation and processing of mouse and human pancreatic sections for RNAScope, immunohistochemistry as well as RNA extraction and qPCR.
In addition to experimental duties, the assistant will be responsible for day-to-day lab management tasks essential to project delivery, including ordering and stock control of consumables, coordinating use of shared equipment, maintaining accurate logs for reagents and antibodies, and ensuring that data are stored and backed up in line with institutional data management policies. The role holder will support the implementation of good laboratory practice, health and safety procedures and environmentally sustainable working practices, including reduction, reuse and recycling initiatives aligned with KCL and Wellcome policies.
This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 24 months.
About You
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
- Good undergraduate and/or Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g. cell/molecular biology, or life/biological sciences).
- Strong background in Cell/Molecular biology.
- Reliable, motivated and hard-working.
- Able to plan and prioritise workload and keep clear and well-organised laboratory notes and records.
- Good communication and writing skills.
Desirable criteria
- Proven experience of working in a scientific laboratory.
- Research experience in related field (e.g setting up cellular, molecular and/or biochemical assays, cell imaging etc).
- Pancreatic islet isolation from murine models
Downloading a copy of our Job Description
Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.
Further Information
At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.
The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.
We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.
When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.
We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.
We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.
We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.
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