Scientific Investigator - Respiratory Biology
The location of the role is Stevenage .
The duration of the contract is 12 months (maternity cover) .
The pay rate on offer is £25.64 per hour (via PAYE) . 37.5 hours per week.
Role Summary
Are you energised by the challenge of building and shaping the biology on a drug discovery program? Do you have expertise in respiratory cell culture and functional assays to explore mechanisms underlying respiratory disease? If so, this Scientific Investigator opportunity in the Respiratory and Immunology Research Unit could be an exciting opportunity to consider. In this role you will be responsible for designing and delivering on the biology strategy as one component of an advanced drug discovery program. In this role you will additionally have the opportunity to develop and mentor a small group of biologists in the respiratory biology team.
Key accountabilities of the role
- Successfully develop and enhance respiratory relevant biology analytical platforms and technologies
- Build scientific expertise through training and supervising a biology team with the necessary scientific and technical capabilities to support the nature and complexity of current and future drug discovery programs
- Work collaboratively with cross-functional discovery teams to identify project needs and develop selected experiments to address project questions by agreed timelines
- Maintain a high level of documentation for all experimental work to ensure data integrity expectations are met
Key skills and experience
- Ph.D. in Respiratory Biology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Immunology or comparable experience
- Independently able to design, execute and interpret experimental studies across a wide range of laboratory techniques, including cell culture (isolation and culture of respiratory disease relevant primary/iPSC human cells e.g., epithelial cells, macrophages/T cells, fibroblasts), optimisation and execution of cell-based assays (phenotypic and mechanistic), molecular biology, RNA isolation, RT-PCR analysis), standard protein analysis, histology, flow cytometry and imaging
- Track record of scientific innovation as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications, conferences, patents
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively present scientific findings to multidisciplinary internal and external stakeholders in a balanced, clear, and precise manner
- Able to independently define strategic approach to tackle specific project or department goals
- Good understanding of drug discovery, ability to influence project direction by interpreting results outside their area of expertise
- Effectively trouble-shoot assays and, when necessary, develop alternative approaches
- Proven ability to prioritize multiple projects to meet timelines while maintaining attention to detail and high-performance standards
- Knowledge of statistical analysis methodology and bioinformatic tools with experience in bioinformatic analysis of large data sets such as those from next generation sequencing experiments