About the Role
Postdoctoral Research Associate position is available within the Blizard Institute, joining Professor Greg Towers' team and funded by a Wellcome Discovery Award.
The research focuses on transposable element activation and its relationship with innate immune signalling across ranges of disease contexts, including viral infection (such as SARS-CoV-2), autoimmune disease and cancer.
The successful candidate will investigate the role of transposable elements in regulating innate immunity, exploring the transcriptional and evolutionary mechanisms that drive their activation. Research projects will be tailored to the postholder's expertise and interests.
Postholder will undertake independent and collaborative research, contribute to student supervision, and work alongside a multidisciplinary team of virologists, biochemists, immunologists and computational biologists.
About You
You will hold a PhD in a relevant subject area and have experience quantifying transposable elements at family and locus levels. Candidates should demonstrate expertise in phylogenetics, molecular evolution, statistical analysis and model selection.
Essential requirements include experience of analysing high-throughput sequencing data, including RNA-seq, ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq, and developing reproducible bioinformatics workflows. You will have experience working with genomic datasets, including controlled-access data, in Linux-based and HPC/cluster computing environments, using R and/or Python.
Experience of innate immune signalling in disease contexts such as viral infection, cancer, autoimmune disease or neurodegeneration is desirable. You will have a track record of disseminating research through publications and/or conference presentations, with excellent communication, collaboration and problem-solving skills.
About the Institute
The Blizard Institute was established in 2003 and is one of six Institutes within the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. The Institute is comprised of staff based in four academic Centres and one Public Engagement Centre and supports a combined total of c700 postgraduate research and taught students. The Blizard constitutes a world class biomedical research institute that integrates all stages of research from basic science through to clinical studies across a diverse range of fields including genomics, cell biology, translational immunology, neuroscience and trauma. Our research addresses the health needs of our local population, while delivering new treatments on a global scale and aims to deliver excellence in all aspects of research, teaching and clinical service.
About Queen Mary
At Queen Mary University of London, we believe that a diversity of ideas helps us achieve the previously unthinkable.
Throughout our history, we’ve fostered social justice and improved lives through academic excellence. And we continue to live and breathe this spirit today, not because it’s simply ‘the right thing to do’ but for what it helps us achieve and the intellectual brilliance it delivers.
We continue to embrace diversity of thought and opinion in everything we do, in the belief that when views collide, disciplines interact, and perspectives intersect, truly original thought takes form.
Benefits
We offer competitive salaries, access to a generous pension scheme, 30 days’ leave per annum (pro-rata for part-time/fixed-term), a season ticket loan scheme and access to a comprehensive range of personal and professional development opportunities. In addition, we offer a range of work life balance and family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, and campus facilities.
Queen Mary’s commitment to our diverse and inclusive community is embedded in our appointments processes. Reasonable adjustments will be made at each stage of the recruitment process for any candidate with a disability. We are open to considering applications from candidates wishing to work flexibly.
