About us
UCL School of Pharmacy is one of the world’s leading centres of excellence for pharmaceutical science, education and professional engagement, ranked third in the world by QS (2025, Pharmacy and Pharmacology). The Division has a track record in high-quality research across a broad range of drug discovery, pharmacy and patient safety-related areas, and for developing spinout companies that have brought new therapeutic strategies to patients.
Further information can be found on our website http://www.ucl.ac.uk/pharmacy/
This is an exciting opportunity to join the Dziemidowicz group at UCL School of Pharmacy. You will work on a Little Princess Trust-funded project developing an injectable "smart" hydrogel to co-deliver CAR-T cells and checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of childhood diffuse midline glioma, as part of a collaborative team involving UCL Pharmaceutics and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
About the role
This is a 7 month fixed-term role due to available funding, in the first instance.
You will carry out the laboratory work behind a translational drug delivery project, formulating and characterising a polymer-nanoparticle hydrogel designed for convection-enhanced delivery, and testing its ability to preserve CAR-T cell viability and function alongside sustained checkpoint inhibitor release.
Day-to-day work will include: hydrogel synthesis and rheological characterisation, cell culture (T cells, DMG cell lines), assays such as ELISA, flow cytometry and cytotoxicity/viability testing.
You'll work closely with Dr Karolina Dziemidowicz and Dr Chris Morris, with input from clinical collaborators at GOSH, in a supportive, multidisciplinary environment spanning biomaterials, immunology and translational neuro-oncology. This is a hands-on laboratory role suited to someone who is keen to contribute directly to early-stage cancer therapeutics research with a clear path towards in vivo studies and clinical translation.
About you
We are looking for a candidate with PhD-level experience in pharmacy, pharmaceutical science, chemistry, biomedical engineering, or a related discipline. If you do not hold a PhD, you will be appointed as a Research Assistant on Grade 6B and regraded to Research Fellow - Grade 7, upon successful completion of your PhD.
Excellent interpersonal and strong communication skills will be highly regarded, as the project involves engagement with patients and families – empathy, comfort and sensitivity in these settings is essential. Confident working independently once trained, while contributing openly to a small, close-knit team. The candidate will be expected to deliver robust, reproducible proof-of-concept data across the project's work packages to time
The candidate should also be trained in aseptic cell culture technique and familiarity with standard immunoassays (ELISA, flow cytometry). It is desirable that the successful postholder will have experience with hydrogel/biomaterial formulation, antibody drug delivery, CAR-T or T-cell work, or convection-enhanced delivery systems, but training will be provided if not.
The post-holder is expected to analyse and present data on a regular basis. This will include presentations at lab, departmental, project and funder meetings. In addition, the post-holder is expected to draft scientific reports for the funder and manuscripts for publication. The interaction in a collaborative fashion with other members of the lab and wider collaborative network is also expected.
