Post Doctoral Research Assistant

At University of Hull, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world's talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in University of Hull workplace. These include people from global majority backgrounds; people who have a declared disability; LGBTQI+ people; and women particularly for our Grade 9 and 10 roles.

Known for its academic excellence and state of the art facilities, the University of Hull are looking for individuals to play their part in tackling the big issues facing humanity. We are research leaders in clean energy, flood resilience, cancer and wound care and the fight against modern slavery. We change the world for the better.

With a Commitment to Excellence in Teaching and Student Success, we pride ourselves on our dedication to meeting the diverse needs and aspirations of our students. We have been recognized with a TEF Gold award and consistently high National Student Survey results, underscoring our commitment to delivering top-tier education.

As staff, we play a pivotal role in the evolution of our university ensuring we are key players in the academic world.

Background and Context

The Hull York Medical School (HYMS) is based at the University of Hull campus. Working with industry and external partners, the Centre hosts multiple externally funded research programmes in key research themes. As holders of an Athena Swan Gold Award, we are also committed to family-friendly and flexible working policies on an individual basis, and follow the Athena SWAN Charter, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in higher education and research.

This 48 month postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) position in the Centre for Biomedicine is part of a joint £15.9 million investment by the UKRI Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome Trust and UKRI Innovate UK which will support a coordinated network of five interdisciplinary teams focused on the development of advanced, specific and highly reproducible human in vitro models – lab grown systems which mimic real human tissues to improve understanding of disease, accelerate drug discovery, and reduce reliance on animal models. This individual project is called ‘ARTEMIS: ARTificial blood vessels for Thrombosis, Endothelial Modelling, and artificial Intelligence Simulation’. ARTEMIS brings together a UK/US multidisciplinary team to create adaptable, scalable and reproducible artificial blood vessels (ABVs) that will be used to accurately model key aspects of the human circulation system, e.g. blood flow and blood vessel structure alongside how blood clots can be therapeutically targeted under different conditions.

The post-holder will work under the supervision of Dr Simon Calaminus, Dr Katie Wraith at HYMS and Dr Amirpasha Moetazedian at University of Hull. The post will be based in a vibrant cardiovascular research group that will offer an excellent opportunity to work across multiple disciplines (Biomedical Engineering, AI, Vascular Biology and Platelet Biology) as part of a diverse multidisciplinary team to progress research objectives.

Applicants are expected to show a commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion, and work in line with the School’s values of – everyone counts, pursuing excellence, socially responsible and collaborative. This includes undertaking mandatory equality and diversity training and adhering to the principles outlined in the UK Medical School’s Charter on So-Called ‘Conversion Therapy’ and the British Medical Association (BMA) racial harassment charter for medical schools.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities of the post

The successful candidate will be responsible for testing platelet responsiveness in artificial blood vessels coated within different environments over sustained time periods using multiple methods of microscopy, western blotting, proteomics, and platelets specific assays as required. The PDRA will be based at Hull University but will be expected to visit external collaborator sites, and to engage with other departments at University of Hull as required. The PDRA will report research results to the project supervisory team on a weekly basis, and report to governance committees. The PDRA will produce an appropriate quantity and quality of progress reports and refereed research publications. They will work closely with the Knowledge Exchange Office of the University of Hull on preparation of materials for filing for IP protection.

Please submit your CV and covering letter when applying for this role. For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Simon Calaminus, E: Simon.Calaminus@hyms.ac.uk. If you would like to be part of our future or have any queries, then please get in touch today - Talent@Hull.ac.uk.