Cardio-Immunology Research Specialist

About Us

The School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Medicine & Sciences (SCMMS) provides an outstanding multi-disciplinary environment for the pursuit of cutting-edge cardiovascular and metabolic research. We study the fundamental molecular, cellular, and physiological processes that underly normal and abnormal cardiovascular and metabolic function and drive the translation of this strong basic science into advances in clinical practice. Our research focuses on four main Themes (Cardiac, Vascular, Cardiometabolic, Diabetes & Obesity), with two cross-cutting Themes (Basic and Clinical). The School is led by Professor Mauro Giacca and comprises over 65 clinical and non-clinical academic groups, hosting 400 personnel and 110 PhD students. Our community of world-renowned researchers and educators have access to state-of-the-art core facilities and expertise, including facilities for high-throughput screening and high content imaging, multimodality in vivo imaging, proteomics, integrative physiology and viral & non-viral vector production. The School activities are carried out at three main locations: James Black Centre in Denmark Hill, St Thomas's Hospital and Franklin-Wilkins Building in South Bank and the Hodgkin Building and New Hunt House/Randal Centre in Guy's Campus. As part of King’s Health Partners, we have an excellent environment for basic-clinical interaction and a strong focus on mentoring and career development. The School hosts the British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence at King’s, which brings together a unique range of internationally recognised scientists and clinicians from across the School and King’s College London.

About The Role

This is an exciting opportunity to work on cardio-immunology within King’s BHF Centre of Excellence. Myocardial infarction is the commonest cause of heart failure and there is compelling evidence implicating excessive inflammation as a key contributor. Cardiac-resident leucocyte subsets are important mediators of the inflammatory response to cardiac injury, but it is not clear how signalling in these cells is regulated. The project aims to delineate signalling in leucocytes after myocardial infarction using in vivo models, in vitro experiments, and multi-platform 'omics' approaches. These studies will provide invaluable knowledge on the regulation of inflammation after MI. We aim to identify and target novel signalling pathways and genomic and transcriptional regulators of inflammation that we can translate to the bedside to alleviate progression to heart failure. We are seeking a motivated and enthusiastic candidate to join our pre-clinical and translational research. The successful applicant will be expected to develop and undertake research of high quality consistent with the aims of the project. They will contribute to all facets of the lab, including managing specific work packages and working as part of a multi-disciplinary team. This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31st March 2028. Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

• Essential Criteria
• Have proven expertise in working with primary cells; be able to perform routine molecular biology protocols, such as DNA isolation, PCR, RT-PCR, cell culture and treatment, cell fractionation, flow cytometry, ELISA, and functional assays.
• Possess scientific integrity and understanding of the importance of study design, power calculations, and statistical analysis.
• Commitment to continuing personal and professional development.
• Good written presentation skills, communication skills (written & verbal), and IT skills.
• Ability to work independently and integrate with colleagues, work as part of a team, and undertake a share of group tasks.
• Proven ability to manage own research and administrative activities efficiently, prioritise, meet targets and deadlines, and keep clear and well-organised laboratory notes and records.
• Desirable Criteria
• Experience of wet lab workflows for bulk and single cell RNA sequencing.
• Hold a Home Office personal licence.
• Experience of genomics and bioinformatic workflows.

Further Information

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university. The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension. We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible. This post is subject to Occupational Health clearances.