Research Assistant/Associate GRADE 6/7

We are seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Assistant/Associate to work within the School of Infection and Immunity under the supervision of Professor Gwo-tzer Ho [Principal Investigator].

This post forms the exciting new Gut Translational Research Group led by Professor Ho in the School of Infection and Immunity – a strong team of immunologists and translational scientists. This project will focus on the role on the immunobiology of gut repair and regeneration in the human Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

The Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Crohn's and Ulcerative colitis are lifelong immune-conditions that affect ~300,000 individuals in UK. As part of a wider strategy to develop a deep human experimental medicines platform, this project aims to mainly focus on using novel human in vitro platforms using IBD gut stem cells, epithelial and immune cells in a more complex co-culture settings to study IBD-specific mechanisms and patient-centric outcomes such as fatigue and wellbeing. This study has a strong discovery science component and will employ significant multi-omic datasets available from our current IBD projects and requires the postholder to work closely in a multidisciplinary team of immunologists, clinical researchers and data scientists.

In this project, the postholder will focus on mitochondria and immunometabolism, as translational pathways for IBD. The postholder is expected to have a combination of good lab experience and experience in molecular data handling (single-cell and spatial biology). This post will offer career development opportunities and working at the academic-industrial interphase.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Plan and conduct assigned research individually or jointly in accordance with the project deliverables and project/group/School/College research strategy.
2. Document research output including analysis and interpretation of all data, maintaining records and databases, drafting technical/progress reports and papers as appropriate.
3. Develop and enhance your research profile and reputation and that of The University of Glasgow/School/Research Group, including contributing to publications of international quality in high profile/quality refereed journals, enhancing the research impact in terms of economic/societal benefit, and gathering indicators of esteem.
4. Contribute to the presentation of work at international and national conferences, at internal and external seminars, colloquia, and workshops to develop and enhance our research profile.
5. Contribute to the identification of potential funding sources and to assist in the development of proposals to secure funding from internal and external bodies to support future research.
6. Collaborate with colleagues and participate in team/group/meetings/seminars/workshops across the research Group/School/College/University and wider community.
7. Contribute to the organisation, supervision, mentoring and training of undergraduate and/or postgraduate students and less experienced members of the project team to ensure their effective development.
8. Perform administrative tasks related to the activities of the research group and School, including Budgets/Expenditure.
9. Carry out modest Teaching activities [e.g. demonstrating etc.] and associated admin as assigned by the Head of School and in consultation with Principal Investigator.
10. Keep up to date with current knowledge and recent advances in the field/discipline.
11. Engage in continuing professional development activities as appropriate.
12. Undertake any other reasonable duties as required by the Head of School/Director of Research Institute.
13. Contribute to the enhancement of the University's international profile in line with the University's Strategic Plan, Inspiring People Changing The World.

For Appointment at Grade 7:
14. Perform the above duties with a higher degree of independence, leadership, and responsibility, particularly in relation to planning, funding, collaborating and publishing research, and mentoring colleagues.
15. Establish and sustain a track record of independent and joint published research to establish and maintain your expert reputation in the subject area.
16. Survey the research literature and environment, understand the research challenges associated with the project and subject area, and develop/implement a suitable research strategy.

Knowledge, Qualifications and Skills:

Essential (Grade 6):
- Scottish Credit and Qualification level 10 (Honours degree or equivalent) in Immunology or other relevant subject.
- Demonstrable current knowledge of immunology.

Essential (Grade 7):
- Normally Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 12 [PhD] in immunology or a cognate discipline plus track record of emerging independence within a research/professional environment, or professional qualifications and experience equivalent to PhD level plus the requisite experience.
- Knowledge of designing and implementing human experimental studies (e.g. organoids, myeloid and immune cells from humans).

Desirable:
- Knowledge of advanced techniques for characterising immune responses at a cellular (high dimensional flow cytometry, confocal microscopy) and molecular level (RNA-seq, spatial technologies).
- Knowledge of gene manipulation techniques such as CRISPR and metabolic experimental techniques such as Seahorse, SCENITH.

Essential Skills:
- Project or subject specific skills.
- Research creativity and cross-discipline collaborative ability.
- Excellent communication skills (oral and written), including public presentations and ability to communicate complex data/concepts clearly and concisely.
- Excellent interpersonal skills including team working and a collegiate approach.
- Appropriate workload/time/project/budget/people management skills.
- IT and data analysis/interpretation skills.
- Self-motivation, initiative and independent thought/working.
- Problem solving skills including a flexible and pragmatic approach.

Essential Skills (Grade 7):
- Excellent skills in a range of immunology techniques, including multiparameter flow cytometry.
- Experience in handling RNA, RT-PCR amplification and analysis.
- Competent in microscopy (immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence).
- Demonstrable evidence in tissue culture of immune system cells and organoid culture.

Desirable Skills:
- Evidence of RNA sequencing analysis, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics.
- Skills with bioinformatic analyses.
- Knowledge in metabolic assays such as SCENITH, METFLOW and Seahorse.
- Familiarity with spatial technologies.

Benefits:
- 41 days of leave for full time staff.
- Generous pension package.
- Benefits and discount packages.
- Flexible approach to working.
- Free 6-month UofG Sport membership for all new staff.
- Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion; Athena Swan award holder.