Research Associate in MND Genetics in London

The post sits within the UK MND Research Institute in the Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience at King's College London, and forms part of Workstream 3 in the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and charity funded EXPERTS-ALS experimental medicines platform. EXPERTS-ALS is an innovative clinical trial designed to rapidly test multiple potential treatments for motor neuron disease (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, MND). The MND research team at King's has been active since the 1990s and has been recognised by multiple international awards. It is closely integrated with the clinical service, Biomedical Research Centre and Dementia Research Institute, offering a full range of research from discovery science through to late-stage clinical trials.

The post-holder will carry out genomic analyses of samples from the EXPERTS-ALS programme as well as other research collections, integrating findings with clinical data, epigenetic results, transcriptomics, and proteomics. They will work closely with other team members in the MND research group, including in the wet lab and the bioinformatics group, generating, analysing and interpreting findings. The post-holder will report to Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi, Director of the King's MND Care and Research Centre, and provide updates as needed for the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre.

The successful applicant will be expected to present their findings at national and international conferences and meetings, and to publish in peer reviewed journals. This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31/03/2028. Research staff at King's are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development.

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

• Essential criteria
• PhD qualified in relevant subject area (e.g. bioinformatics, Genetics, biotechnology, biophysics, etc).
• Up to date knowledge of NGS & long reads pipelines.
• Proficient in Unix based systems and programming in at least one language (Python, Java, Bash, Perl, R).
• Proven experience supervising students in genetics, guiding their academic progress and research skill development.
• Publication records commensurate with grade.
• Experience working with large-scale DNA sequencing datasets, including WGS and long-read sequencing data.
• Experience in analysing clinical samples to identify genomic markers associated with disease risk, phenotype, and treatment response.
• Developed and applied innovative research methods, using creativity to analyse and interpret data.

*Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.

• Desirable criteria
• Ability to carry out statistical analysis of genetic data.
• Up to date knowledge of machine learning methods applied to clinical and omics data.

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.

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.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant's own work and experience.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day. We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.