Research Associate in In Vitro Models of Early Development (10402)

The Rosalind Franklin Institute (the Franklin) is a technology institute established by the UK Government as a unique centre committed to advancing tools that are needed to transform healthcare in the future.

The Institute brings together researchers in life and physical sciences, and engineering, to develop a spectrum of tools which we will use to image, interpret and intervene in biological systems. These insights will speed up the discovery of new medicines, help find new diagnostics and contribute to a deeper understanding of human health and disease. Our Science Strategy seeks to focus the Franklin’s research and unite our researchers around our Technology Innovation Challenges and Life Science Challenges. For more information on the Franklin’s Challenges click here.

As part of the Integrated Chemical Imaging in Cells and Tissue Challenge, your role will be to develop mass spectrometry (MS) technologies that provide a comprehensive, spatially-resolved chemical view of whole tissues at near cellular resolution. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) has the best in spatial resolution of imaging MS techniques, but there are still challenges in obtaining a holistic picture of the molecular makeup of cells at a subcellular level. This role will work with cutting edge instrumentation and further develop this instrumentation towards tackling this challenge.

As a Research Associate at the Franklin, you will bring scientific knowledge and skills to deliver a specific research project and/or you will bring independent, creative science, or specific skills to a team delivering a project or program. Through this work, you will build scientific independence, develop new science and leadership skills, and establish a growing reputation externally.

In this specific role, you will establish and maintain stem cell and blastoid culture systems that model key cell fate transitions during early human development. You will generate robust, reproducible biological systems that can be interrogated across molecular, cellular and structural scales, working closely with RFI experts in mass spectrometry, cryo-electron tomography, imaging, data science and AI. The appointee will ensure that these models are suitable for high-quality, multimodal data generation, enabling the identification of candidate molecular and structural determinants of cell fate decisions. They will also play a central role in closing the prediction–validation loop: using computational predictions derived from these datasets to design, optimise and execute targeted validation experiments. More broadly, this role will help establish a biological testbed for understanding how cell fate is specified, maintained and redirected during early development. By linking stem cell and blastoid models with mass spectrometry, cryo-ET and AI-driven analysis, the work will contribute to the wider goal of building predictive, experimentally grounded models of how molecular organisation gives rise to cellular identity and developmental transitions.

Key Responsibilities

As a Research Associate you will:

• Take care of a stem cell line, including occasional weekend work.
• Learn and apply advanced research imaging techniques to understand the structural details of the stem cell line.
• Attend scientific seminars and meetings to keep up to date with developments in stem cell culture, use and imaging.
• Disseminate results through participating in the manuscript preparation process and presenting at scientific meetings.
• Contribute to the public engagement science programme of the Franklin.
• Plan and conduct experiments, analyse and interpret results and supervised delivery of outputs (e.g. research report, patent application) in a scientific/technology area of interest.
• Work within a project team, contributing to wider projects around Franklin's key Challenges.
• Lead major contributions to outputs from research including papers, patents and both internal and external presentations.
• Support and develop others including day-to-day supervision of students or visitors in areas related to own research.
• Have supervised, staged progression to first stages of scientific independence with opportunities to further develop science and skills/experience.
• Enhance your research through collaboration with other researchers and make active contributions to exchanging of ideas through your own network.
• Be able to understand, interpret, create and communicate appropriately within a research context.
• Develop search and discovery skills and techniques.
• Be supervised by a Scientist/Senior Scientist in delivery of research outputs, either in the context of a project or Challenge or as an early career development fellow.

Before submitting your application please ensure you read the Job Information Pack for full details of this role. This can be found at the bottom of the page.

This job description sets out the skills and experience we believe are needed to be able to do this job but, research also tells us women are much more likely than men to take this list of requirements as absolute and self-select out of the process. If you think you can deliver this role then we want to hear from you, regardless of the boxes you did not tick.

Whilst the role requires candidates to hold a PhD/DPhil (or equivalent), we may consider candidates who have submitted their PhD/DPhil thesis, in which case the initial appointment will be made at £38,500 per annum (to be increased on completion of the PhD/DPhil qualification).

In return we offer:

• * 25 days holidays plus bank holidays and Christmas holiday shutdown
• * Generous pension scheme (employer’s contribution currently up to 18%)
• * Group Life Assurance (also known as Group Life Insurance or Death in Service)
• * Buying and Selling Annual Leave
• * Workplace Nursery Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• * Hub building with state-of-the-art laboratories
• * Hybrid and flexible working
• * Training and development opportunities for staff at all levels
• * Bus pass discount scheme and good transport links to Oxford and surrounding areas
• * Cycle to Work Scheme
• * Access to employee discount platform (Perkbox)
• * Occupational Health and wellbeing support including Employee Assistance (24/7 support and counselling)
• * Health Cash Plan
• * Subsidised canteen and food outlets on campus
• * Free on-site parking
• * Campus location in beautiful countryside with social and sports clubs open to staff

The Franklin’s underlying aim is to produce the best science for research today, and this means resolutely embracing a diverse team, who have a wide range of experiences, skills and knowledge to push forward on the innovative work our institution delivers. Both our work and our institution are better for it. For further information, view our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.

We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where every applicant has an equal opportunity to showcase their talents and abilities. This includes making adjustments for candidates with specific needs. Please contact us at recruitment@rfi.ac.uk to discuss your requirements confidentially.

At the Rosalind Franklin Institute we also welcome applications from all around the world!

How to Apply

To be considered for this role, please upload a CV and cover letter explaining why you think you are the right person for this job. The link to apply is provided at the bottom of this page.

Closing date:

The closing date for applications is 23:59 on Sunday 9th August 2026.

Interviews will be held w/c 24th August 2026.

Applicants should refer to our Candidate Privacy Policy.