Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Spinck Lab) - Generative Biology Institute in Oxford

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we are on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity's greatest challenges in four transformative areas: Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology, Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change & Managing CO₂, and Artificial Intelligence & Robotics.

This is ambitious work — work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you'll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society.

Welcome to the Generative Biology Institute. Led by Founding Director Jason Chin, the Generative Biology Institute (GBI) at the Ellison Institute of Technology is tackling the key challenges in making biology engineerable, and thereby unlocking the unrivalled power of biology for the benefit of humanity. The vision of the GBI is to lay the foundations for engineering biology, and unlock its potential for good. To achieve this, we must overcome two key challenges:

• We need the ability to write in the natural language of biology, enabling the rapid and scalable synthesis of entire genomes with precision.
• We must understand what to write — determining which DNA sequences will generate biological systems that perform the desired functions.

Addressing these challenges will allow us to harness the full power of biology to create transformative solutions across health, agriculture, clean energy and more.

Spinck Lab: We are seeking ambitious, creative, and highly skilled Postdoctoral Researchers to join the Spinck Lab at GBI. The Spinck Lab, led by Principal Investigator Martin Spinck, aims to explore biological evolution in artificial environments to uncover new-to-nature functions, focusing on evolvable self-assembling biomaterials and their applications in sustainable chemistry and biotechnology. In particular, focusing on the use of the synthetic 61-codon strain Syn61, in which three codons have been deleted and can be reassigned to encode diverse non-canonical amino acids. By utilizing the reprogrammable genetic code of Syn61, we can gain access to a vast new chemical space for discovery of biological catalysts and materials with potential for optimisation through directed evolution.

Postdoctoral candidates should have experience in synthetic or chemical biology and/or microbiology, ideally with hands-on work using E. coli as a model organism. Experience in techniques such as molecular cloning and genetic engineering is expected. Prior experience with directed evolution approaches, including library design, mutagenesis, and the development of screening or selection strategies, would be particularly advantageous. Familiarity with the incorporation of non-canonical amino acids, the characterization of biomaterials, or enzyme kinetics would be beneficial but is not required. Candidates should be excited to work at the interface of biology and chemistry and motivated to develop and apply experimental approaches to evolve new biomolecular functions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, execute, and troubleshoot experiments, including the development of novel methodologies and adaptation of existing techniques to new applications.
• Analyse complex datasets using computational and statistical tools, interpreting results in the context of broader research goals.
• Contribute intellectually to the research direction by identifying opportunities for innovation and refining research questions.
• Prepare and publish high-quality scientific papers, reports, presentations, and protocols.
• Present research at national and international conferences, seminars, and internal meetings.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams within GBI, EIT and external partners to advance complementary workstreams.
• Build and maintain research infrastructure, laboratory capabilities, and cutting-edge technologies.
• Mentor and support junior researchers, including PhD students and research assistants.
• Translate research findings into commercial or translational opportunities in alignment with EIT's mission.
• Identify and pursue opportunities for intellectual property generation and protection.
• Ensure research activities comply with EIT's policies, legal requirements, and best scientific practice.

This list is not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to undertake additional tasks and duties commensurate with the role.

Requirements:

• Completed a PhD in a relevant field (e.g., synthetic biology, computational biology and AI, microbial, plant and human cell biology, genomics, robotics and automation, and nucleic acids chemistry).
• Track record of delivering ambitious research projects to a high standard.
• Strong track record in research, ideally in molecular biology, synthetic biology, or related fields.
• Skilled in data analysis and interpretation; experience with genomic analysis, automation, or computational tools desirable.
• Proven ability to work independently, think creatively, and solve complex experimental problems.
• Experience publishing in high-impact journals and presenting at international conferences.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple concurrent projects.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with experience collaborating in multidisciplinary teams.
• Capacity to build and sustain productive collaborations internally and externally.
• Resilience, adaptability, and enthusiasm for working in a fast-paced, high-growth research environment.

Benefits:

• Salary: Competitive + travel allowance + bonus.
• Enhanced holiday pay.
• Pension.
• Life Assurance.
• Income Protection.
• Private Medical Insurance.
• Hospital Cash Plan.
• Therapy Services.
• Perk Box.
• Electric Car Scheme.

Working Together – What It Involves:

You must be eligible to work in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. We are open to sponsoring employment visas for this role; however sponsorship is not available for all visa types or in all circumstances. Eligibility will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. You must be based in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford, or willing to relocate. During peak periods, some longer hours may be required and some working across multiple time zones due to the global nature of the programme. This is a 4-year fixed-term contract.