Research Associate in Lung Tissue Imaging in Cardiff

We are looking for a Grade 6 Postdoctoral Researcher to join the team of Dr Renata Jurkowska, School of Biosciences. The role will focus on understanding molecular and cellular mechanisms that maintain healthy lung tissue and how these processes become disrupted in chronic lung diseases.

You will join an interdisciplinary project funded by the Wellcome Trust Discovery Award, aimed at developing a transformative multiphoton microscopy technology for applications in mucosal tissue mechanobiology. Mucosal surfaces are the main interface between the environment and our organism. In the lung, mucus provides a barrier that entraps foreign pathogens and particles and is moved into the oesophagus by coordinated ciliary beating of epithelial cells. Mucus viscoelasticity is crucial to this movement, and poor mucociliary clearance contributes to the development of chronic lung diseases, like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The new technology developed in this project will measure mucus viscoelasticity by tracking the trajectories of individual nano-probes with unprecedented nanoscale precision. It will map the 3D structure and composition of living lung tissues with subcellular resolution and molecular chemical specificity. The technology will be applied to healthy and diseased lung tissues and cellular models, in response to inflammatory triggers, infections and drugs. This research will unlock new insights into how mucus mechanics interconnects to regulatory pathways underlying airway remodelling and fibrosis, key features of chronic lung diseases, which are a massive unmet medical need.

You will work alongside biophysicists who will develop microscope hardware and software. The microscope will implement four-wave mixing imaging and tracking, coherent Raman scattering, second-harmonic generation, third-harmonic generation and two-photon fluorescence, all integrated in one instrument.

You will develop lung tissue and primary cell-based models for imaging and investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms driving airway remodelling and deficient mucociliary clearance. You will support data acquisition, analysis and scientific interpretation. You will engage in scientific publication and dissemination of the results.

We’d like to hear from you if you:

• Have experience in preparing, imaging and analysing mammalian tissues using microscopic methods and quantitative image analysis platforms.
• Have experience in using tissue or/and cell-based models in 2D or 3D.
• Possess excellent written and verbal communication and team-working skills.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and can be directed, in the first instance, to jurkowskar@cardiff.ac.uk.

The position is full-time available from 1st August 2026 and is fixed term until 31st July 2029.

Salary: £41,064 - £46,049 per annum (Grade 6). Appointments to roles at Cardiff University are usually made at bottom of scale unless in exceptional circumstances.

Cardiff University offers many excellent benefits, including 45 days annual leave (incl. bank holidays), local pension scheme, a cycle to work scheme and other travel initiatives, annual increments within the pay scale, and more. It's an exciting and vibrant place to work with many different challenges and is a proud Living Wage supporter. You will be based at Cardiff University and will work together with our project collaborators at the University of Cambridge.

Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds. We therefore welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age. We especially welcome and encourage applications from those under-represented groups within the University workforce, such as those who identify as LGBT+, Ethnic Minority or those with disabilities.

In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.

Cardiff University is a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions we will evaluate applicants on the quality of their research, not publication metrics or the identity of the journal in which the research is published.

Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.