Research Assistant (Zuercher Lab) - Generative Biology Insititute

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.

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.

The Zuercher Lab is seeking ambitious, creative, and highly skilled Postdoctoral Researchers to join the team. The lab, led by Principal Investigator Jerome Zuercher, focuses on two interconnected areas: Genome synthesis and Genetic Isolation.

Genetic Isolation: A direct consequence of the universality of the genetic code is the possibility for genetic information to be transferred between evolutionarily distant species. Such horizontal transfer of genetic information is common in nature and has shaped evolution over billions of years. In the context of genetic engineering, however, this type of genetic spillover is highly concerning. Prevention of interference of artificial genetic information with natural biology is critical to allow biotechnological progress to be both safe and ambitious.

Genome Synthesis: Our ability to write DNA has recently expanded to the genomic scale. The possibility of defining every single base in the genome of a cell enables manipulation of the most fundamental cellular properties, such as the genetic code. However, current genome synthesis methods are slow, narrow in scope, and limited in scale. This project aims to develop methodologies to make the synthesis of model organism genomes more rapid and enable the synthesis of the genomes of non‑model bacteria to broaden the scope of genome synthesis.

Key Responsibilities:

• Assist in scientific studies and experiments by collecting and analysing data under the guidance of senior scientists.
• Perform routine laboratory tasks such as preparing samples, setting up equipment, and maintaining lab safety protocols.
• Analyse experimental data using software tools; prepare reports and presentations of findings.
• Support the Research Group in the development of written materials, including publications, conference presentations and laboratory protocols.
• Carry out desk‑based research to establish the state of the art in scientific areas related to the work of GBI.
• Stay current on scientific advancements and technologies related to the field of synthetic biology through journals, conferences, and other academic resources.
• Provide general day‑to‑day support to the wider team and any other duties requested of you by your group leader.

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

Requirements:

• A Bachelor's degree in a relevant scientific field (e.g. Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Computer Science).
• Previous experience working in a research laboratory.
• Ability to work effectively in a high‑growth, fast‑paced, dynamic environment.
• Highly organised with an ability to manage multiple projects.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, interpersonal skills, and the ability to work with a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds.
• Experience with problem‑solving involving multiple internal and external stakeholders.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary, travel allowance and 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:

• Eligibility: you must be eligible to work in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary.
• You must be based in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate).
• This is a 2‑year fixed‑term contract role.