Job Title:

Research Associate in Drug Delivery and Advanced Therapeutics

Department/Division/Faculty:

Department of Materials

Campus location:

South Kensington

Job Family/Level:

Research family, Research Associate

Responsible to:

Project Principal Investigators

Key Working Relationships (internal):

Academic and research staff and postgraduate students

Key Working Relationships (external):

Research funders and other collaborative institutes

Contract type:

Full Time -Fixed term 12 Months with possibility of extension

Purpose of the Post

The position involves designing, synthesising, and characterising innovative polymer, lipid or nucleic acid therapies based on micro/nanoparticles using state-of-the-art techniques for use in biomedical applications. Advanced therapeutics offer extremely advantageous properties that can be manipulated using versatile surface chemistries and biofunctionalisation strategies. Further, micro/nanoparticles can give rise to innovative materials capable of delivering sensitive cargo in a well-controlled manner to target tissues.

The post-holder will be active within a vibrant, collaborative and multidisciplinary environment comprising multiple projects. This post will liaise closely with researchers trained in a wide array of faculties, including nanomaterials, engineering, and biology (with focus areas in drug delivery, tissue engineering and diagnostics). This post is based within Professor Molly Stevens’ group and involve collaborations with a number of other internationally recognised biomaterials and (nano)materials research groups. The Stevens Group has received numerous awards for outstanding biomaterials related research (www.stevensgroup.org) and comprises a very international and multidisciplinary group of Research Fellows and PhD students.

Key Responsibilities

Research:

• Design and synthesise innovative polymer and lipid-based micro/nanoparticles for advanced therapeutics including nucleic acid delivery. Specifically, develop injectable drug/therapy delivery platforms for long-term or stimuli-responsive release of encapsulated cargo.

• Use state-of-the-art materials characterisation techniques to analyse the nano/microcarriers for applications in therapeutic delivery.

• Establish versatile characterisation protocols that can be translated to a variety of applications.

• Undertake the associated data analysis and interpretation of data.

• Help the other research staff, technicians, and students in the daily management of the group laboratories and facilities.

• To liaise with the other research staff and students working in broad areas of relevance to the research project and partner institutions.

• To write progress reports and prepare results for publication and dissemination via journals, presentations, and the web.

• To attend progress and management meetings as required and network with the other research groups.

• To collaborate with industrial partners.

• To take initiatives in the planning of research.

• To develop any required skills and knowledge.

• To identify and develop suitable techniques and apparatus for the collection and analysis of data.

• To conduct data analysis.

• To ensure the validity and reliability of data at all times.

• To maintain accurate and complete records of all findings.

• To write reports for submission to research sponsors.

• To prepare material for presentation in oral and poster formats.

• To present findings to colleagues and at conferences.

• To draft publications and prepare them for submission to refereed journals.

• To publish in high quality refereed journals.

• To provide guidance to staff and students.

• To take responsibility for organising resources and effective decision making in support of research.

• To attend relevant workshops and conferences as necessary.

• To develop contacts and research collaborations within the College and the wider community.

• To promote the reputation of the Group, the Departments, and the College.

• To undertake instruction of PhD students, as agreed.

• To actively participate in Group research meetings and internal seminars.

• To prepare and deliver a small number of lectures, and mark assessments, as agreed.

Other Duties:

• To undertake any necessary training and/or development.

• To undertake appropriate administration tasks.

• To attend relevant meetings.

• To observe and comply with all College policies and regulations, including the key policies and procedures on Confidentiality, Conflict of Interest, Business Continuity, Data Protection, Equal Opportunities, Ethics related, External Interests, Financial Regulations, Health and Safety, Imperial Expectations (for new leaders, managers and supervisors), Information Technology, and Smoking.

• To undertake specific safety responsibilities relevant to individual roles, as set out on the College Health and Safety Structure and Responsibilities web page: www.imperial.ac.uk/safety/policies/organisationandarrangements

• To undertake Business Continuity responsibilities relevant to individual roles.

Person Specification

Candidates/post holders will be expected to demonstrate the following:

Essential (E)/

Desirable (D)

Qualifications

research Associate -A PhD (or equivalent) in Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, or Bioengineering or similar.

E

Research Assistant- hold an honours degree (or equivalent) in in Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, or Bioengineering or similar.

E

Experience

Experience in synthesis of micro/nanoparticles, and in designing innovative materials ((e.g. polymer synthesis, self-assembly, nucleic acid design)

E

Experience in micro/nanoparticle characterisation techniques (e.g. DLS, TEM, SEM and/or AFM, Raman microspectroscopy), image analysis (e.g. ImageJ).

E

Experience in a wide range of synthetic skills (e.g. experimental design, wet chemistry, purification, etc.).

E

Experience of working in a cleanroom (e.g. (photo)lithography).

D

Experience in cell biology techniques (e.g. cell culture, viability, cytotoxicity, etc.)

D

Experience in writing papers focusing on therapeutic delivery, including a number of first-authored papers in well-respected journals.

E

Knowledge

Knowledge of biomaterials for applications in disease therapy.

D

Skills and Abilities

Excellent written and oral communication skills.

E

Demonstrable ability for innovation and original research.

E

Demonstrated ability to work in a collaborative environment.

E

Demonstrated ability to conduct a detailed review of recent literature.

E

Demonstrated ability to develop and apply new concepts.

E

A creative approach to problem-solving.

E

Experience of project management.

D

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level.

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research/ 

We are committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment for all. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender identity, sex, or sexual orientation. We are an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Disability Confident Leader and a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

June 2021