Research Associate, Transformation Facility in Oxford

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re 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
• 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 Plant Biology Institute: The Plant Biology Institute, headed by Professor Steve Kelly, is a key part of the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) Oxford. The institute aims to develop impactful and commercially sustainable solutions for improving global food production and planetary health through pioneering plant science research. The Plant Biology Institute will unite world-class researchers who are focused on expanding the frontiers of plant science. Our research is focused on enhancing our ability to feed the planet while simultaneously improving the climate and ecosystem outcomes of food production. By embedding cutting‑edge plant science research within an organisation that is focused on solving global challenges at scale, we aim to accelerate the timeline from discovery to global impact.

Areas of exploration include:

• Improved plant productivity, both indoors and outside.
• Reduced reliance on inputs including water, fertilisers, pesticides, and herbicides.
• Novel decarbonised plant‑based production platforms for food and medicines.
• Advanced technologies that speed up discovery and deployment in plants.

Researchers will have access to state‑of‑the‑art laboratory and plant growth facilities and have opportunities to collaborate with experts at the forefront of research on AI, automation, and generative biology across the EIT ecosystem. They will also work with global leaders in market development, commercialisation, and impact creation. The Plant Biology Institute has long‑term substantial funding to support the unique scale and ambition of its vision.

Your Role: At EIT we are seeking a highly motivated and skilled Research Associate in the Crop Transformation Pipeline team at the pioneering Plant Biology Institute. The Research Associate will support high‑throughput transformation execution, ensuring consistent delivery of edited or transgenic plants across target crops. This role focuses on throughput, reproducibility, and industrial‑grade delivery of high‑quality transgenic and gene edited events.

Your Responsibilities: The candidate will play a pivotal role in advancing the crop transformation pipeline. Successful candidates will focus on high throughput transformation in elite corn lines. The key responsibilities include:

• Conduct transformation, tissue culture, regeneration, and plant recovery workflows.
• Maintain culture health, media preparation, and sterile technique standards.
• Track experiments using LIMS and digital systems.
• Assist in optimisation trials and troubleshooting experiments.
• Support scaling initiatives and throughput acceleration.
• Maintain detailed lab documentation and inventory.
• Train and mentor Technicians.
• Standardise SOPs and ensure rigorous documentation following GLP & QMS.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to incorporate cutting‑edge applied technologies to develop commercial products.
• Present scientific work at seminars within the team and at external meetings, including contributing to laboratory‑wide discussions on developments within the field.
• Assist in training and mentoring technicians in various transformation and tissue culture skill sets.
• Collaborate with experts at the forefront of research on AI, automation, and generative biology across the EIT ecosystem.
• Assist in the translation of scientific results into publications, commercial opportunities consistent with the EIT humane endeavors.
• Recognise the acting on opportunities for the creation of IP and cooperating in patent protection and in impact delivery.

The successful candidate will have skills in crop transformation or desire to become a highly skilled transformation expert in future. This role offers a unique opportunity to develop and grow in an enthusiastic and collaborative environment while solving some of the biggest global challenges. The candidate will be expected to play an active role in translating research into commercially applicable tools to advance trait programs and delivering commercial solutions aligned with EIT’s mission of humane technological advancement. This is an exciting opportunity to develop as a leader in a dynamic, well‑supported, and purpose‑driven environment.

Requirements Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:

• Master’s or Bachelor’s degree with substantial hands‑on expertise in plant tissue culture and transformation.
• Experience with structured experimental planning, tracking, monitoring and reporting.
• Proven troubleshooting and optimisation skills in tissue culture.
• Ability to build both internal and external relationships. Working collaboratively with others outside of their discipline.
• Clear and demonstrable problem‑solving skills.
• Excellent problem‑solving, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Excellent written communication and report writing skills.

Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Experience in multiple crop transformation.
• Experience with GLP & Quality management system.
• Experience in DOE, statistical analysis.

Benefits Our Benefits:

• Salary dependent on experience + travel allowance + bonus
• Enhanced holiday + options to buy additional days
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electric Car Scheme
• Childcare benefit

What we offer: Newly constructed, state‑of‑the‑art laboratories and growth facilities. A collaborative research environment with highly skilled team working at the cutting edge of plant science to create commercially sustainable solutions that tackle humanity’s biggest challenges, including enabling sustainable agriculture and improving the climate and ecosystem outcomes of food production. Opportunities for professional development include publication, conferences, spin‑out generation, and leadership development.