The School of Life Sciences
There has never been a more exciting time to study the science of biology, whether your interest is in human, animal or plant life. As one of the University’s largest departments, we are renowned for our high levels of student satisfaction on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. At Essex, you can study a wide and exciting range of subjects including biomedical science, marine biology, biochemistry, biological sciences, genetics or genomics.
The School is now seeking to appoint a Senior Research Officer to be an integral member of the highly collaborative and supportive School of Life Sciences and the Cellular Ageing research group (www.rallislab.org https://www.essex.ac.uk/people/ralli86406/charalampos-babis-rallis).
Our laboratory uses Systems Biology approaches in fission yeast and 2D/3D human tissue culture systems (fibroblasts, neural stem cells and neuroblastoma-derived human neurons) to investigate the molecular basis of cellular fitness, ageing and cancer with a focus on the nutrient-responsive signalling pathway Target of Rapamycin (TOR). Activation of mTOR promotes tumour growth and metastasis. While some of the mTOR inhibitors have been developed and approved to treat human cancer, more mTOR inhibitors are being evaluated in clinical trials. Due to the fundamental roles of mTOR in growth, cell cycle progression and anabolism within all eukaryotes, resistance to mTOR inhibition itself is a major problem, partly attributed to the large heterogeneity of cancer cells.
Results from this project will lead in a better understanding of nutrient- and growth factor-dependent cellular growth and will highlight the key candidates for targeting resistant cancer cells.
Duties of the Role
The Senior Research Officer will conduct and communicate research as part of the recently awarded MRC grant on investigating mechanisms of uncoupling cellular growth from nutrient availability and mTOR pathway activity. The successful candidate will utilise state-of-the-art multi-omics approaches, and cell-based genome-wide techniques such as genetic interactomes in collaboration with research groups at the University College London, University of Toulouse and The Francis Crick Institute assessing gene-gene and gene-drug interactions.
Duties also include engaging in individual and/or collaborative research activity resulting in internationally excellent publications that is in keeping with Research Excellence Framework (REF) criteria.
A full list of duties can be found within the job pack attached.
Skills and Qualifications required
We seek highly motivated, and professional candidates with relevant background in cell and molecular biology using tissue culture systems and/or yeasts and with an interest in cancer biology and senescence. Knowledge and previous experience in genomics, transcriptomics, CRISPR/Cas9 techniques, and related computational analyses will be an advantage.
The successful candidate will have a PhD in Biochemistry, Genetics, Molecular Biology or a related discipline or should be close to the completion of PhD, writing up or under examination and have evidence of a developing research agenda, engagement in high-quality research activity and a developing research profile using yeasts or tissue culture systems.
At the University of Essex, internationalism and diversity is central to who we are and what we do. We are committed to being a cosmopolitan, internationally oriented university that is welcoming to staff and students from all countries, faiths and backgrounds, where you can find the world in one place.
To support this commitment we have our Global Forum, a staff-led network that promotes and celebrates the rich cultural diversity among Essex staff, and our Colchester campus based Faith Centre, which hosts regular services, meetings and events organised by our chaplains and faith representatives.
Please see the attached job pack, which contains a full job description and person specification, which outlines the full duties, skills, qualifications and experience needed for this role plus more information relating to the post. We recommend you read this information carefully before making an application. Applications should be made on-line, but if you would like advice or help in making an application, or need information in a different format, please contact the Resourcing Team (resourcing@essex.ac.uk).
*More information: Working at the University