The research project is funded as part of Imperial’s AI-Engineering Biology consortium and will be based at the London Biofoundry, a cutting-edge Engineering Biology lab on Imperial’s new White City campus with an integrated SynBio stack bringing together in-house DNA synthesis, high-throughput (HT) liquid handling, high-end plate readers, microscopes, flow cytometers, sequencers and analytical instruments to speed up the design-build-test cycle. The project will interface with several labs part of the AI-EB consortium at Imperial, UCL and Bristol. With support from the Biofoundry team, HT platforms for three applications will be established: i) E.coli-based cell-free system optimisation for ML driven pathway engineering; ii) metabolic network reconfiguration in E.coli feeding into ML models; and iii) an AI-driven exploration of functional sequence space in mammalian cells. All projects will leverage automation and parallelisation of experiments and benefit from close collaboration with domain experts and members of the newly established Imperial X initiative focusing Imperial’s AI expertise, which is also co-located with the Biofoundry.

Duties and responsibilities

• Plan, execute and analyse experiments
• Maintaining an up-to-date detailed knowledge of relevant and recent research literature
• To take initiatives in the planning of research and to direct the work of small research teams
• To identify and develop suitable techniques, and apparatus, for the collection and analysis of data and to conduct data analysis
• To maintain accurate and complete records of all findings
• To ensure the validity and reliability of data at all times
• To write reports for submission to research sponsors
• Prepare and present findings to colleagues at seminars and lab meetings
• Prepare and present findings to other researchers through scientific publications and conferences
• To submit publications to refereed journals
• To develop contacts and research collaborations within the College and the wider community
• To promote the reputation of the Group, the Department and the College
• To maintain highly organised and accurate record of experimental work
• To actively participate in the research programme of the Group and Unit
• To contribute to the smooth running of the Group’s/Unit’s laboratories and, facilities with other scientists, clinicians, technicians and students within the laboratories
• Assist in the supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate research students and research assistants as required

Essential requirements

• Experience within a research environment and good publication record in refereed academic journals
• Experience in a broad range of techniques related to biochemistry and molecular biology
• Experience with high-throughput cloning systems
• Experience with SynBio approaches in bacterial systems
• Experience with Cell-free technology
• Experience with SynBio approaches in mammalian systems
• Experience with automated liquid handlers
• Experience with writing scientific research papers
• Knowledge of research methods and statistical procedures for data analyses
• Computer literate with working knowledge of Python or R

• 
  Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant.

Further information

The post is full time, fixed term, 18 months July 2023 - December 2024

Should you require any further details on the role please contact: Marko Storch – m.storch @imperial.ac.uk

Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as a Research Assistant within the salary range £38,194 - £41,388 per annum.

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/

Imperial College is committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment. We are an Athena SWAN Silver award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Disability Confident Employer and work in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people.