Laboratory Technician UK DRI

Dementia is the greatest health challenge of our century.   

To date there is no way to prevent it or even slow its progression, and there is an urgent need to fill the knowledge gap in our basic understanding of the diseases that cause it.

We are a globally leading multidisciplinary research institute of 700 staff investigating the spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders causing dementia, with laboratory-based research groups located at University College London, the University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, Edinburgh University, Imperial College London and King’s College London. 

Centre context

King’s

Researchers at the  

UK DRI at King’s

use innovative approaches to explore the biological mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative diseases. Their goal is to defeat dementia by uncovering vital new knowledge that will lead to the design of smarter diagnostics and effective treatments. The team aim to understand the fundamental biological processes involved in dementia at a molecular level – and to use that knowledge to design new ways to diagnose and treat disease more precisely. 

Professor Jernej Ule is seeking a Laboratory Technician to join a team of researchers working on the assembly mechanisms of ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNP) and its defects in neurodegeneration.  

You will contribute to the project, in particular the transcriptomic methods such as CLIP and Ribo-seq and associated computational biology, as well as cell biology techniques and thus contribute to relevant publications in collaboration with other team members. 

The post is based at the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Denmark Hill campus. 

This post will be offered on an a fixed-term contract until 31st March 2023 with the possibility of further extension. 

This is a full-time post – 100% full time equivalent

•            Undertake the planned experiments and analyse data under the supervision of Professor Ule and in collaboration with other members of the Ule group.   

•            Continue professional development, including participation in staff development and review procedures in accordance with King’s guidelines, including annual formal appraisal. 

•            Contribute to the multidisciplinary research strategy of the Centre and department. 

•            Ensuring the highest standard of record keeping, maintaining accurate, complete, and up to date records.  

•            Ensuring confidentiality is maintained as applicable. 

•            Attending and contributing to Departmental, Institutional, and other meetings as appropriate. 

•            Acting at all times in accordance with the highest professional standards and ensuring that these are maintained in the delivery of all aspects of research. 

•            Adhering at all times to the policies, rules and regulations of the Centre, Department and King’s. 

•            The post holder will actively follow King’s policies including Equal Opportunities and Information Governance policies. 

•            The post holder has a responsibility to carry out their duties in a resource efficient way and actively support King’s Sustainability Strategy, policies, and objectives within the remit of their role. 

•            The post holder will carry out any other duties as are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the job as requested by the line manager 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.  

•       Experience of molecular and cellular biology 

•       Experience with production cDNA library preparation for transcriptomics and associated computational data analysis  

•       Experience in experimental design and bench work 

•       IT proficiency at advanced user level (Spreadsheet, Word Processing, Database, Email, Web based applications) 

•       Excellent oral and written communication skills 

•       Strong problem-solving abilities 

•       Excellent organizational skills, with the ability to work efficiently on multiple sites 

•       Excellent inter-personal skills with an ability to work co-operatively in a multidisciplinary setting 

Essential criteria  

1.       BSc in Molecular Biology or a related discipline 

2.       Resourceful and able to act on own initiative 

3.       Interested in research and a commitment to supporting high quality research 

4.       Meticulous and accurate in all aspects of work 

Desirable criteria

1.       Experience with new method development 

2.       Experience in immunostaining and neurobiology