Postdoctoral Fellow: TF differentiation of hiPSCs

Here at the world-famous and internationally respected Wellcome Sanger Institute, we have an exciting opportunity for a postdoctoral researcher to perform high throughput screening for transcription factor-driven differentiation in human pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) in order to create better in vitro  differentiated cells that more faithfully mimic their in vivo  counterparts.

About the Role 

You will have the opportunity to employ cutting-edge genome engineering technologies to design and perform combinatorial cDNA overexpression screens coupled to complex readouts such as flow cytometry and high throughput droplet-based single cell ‘omics (10x genomics) to characterise the resulting cells.

These technologies will enable the generation of pure and functional lineages of cells, with the aim of better modelling the genetic basis of disease, understanding cellular differentiation, and with high translational and therapeutic potential.

About You

• We are looking for motivated candidates with a PhD in a relevant discipline with a background in molecular biology, mammalian cell culture and genome engineering.
• Cell culture and molecular biology experience and an ability to work both independently and as part of a team are essential.

You will work in the Cellular and Gene Editing Research Group led by Dr Andrew Bassett, and in close collaboration with the Teichmann, Parts, Bayraktar and Vento groups. The Wellcome Sanger Institute is at the forefront of single-cell technologies with projects such as the human cell atlas (https://www.humancellatlas.org/ ) aiming to identify and create reference maps of every cell type in the human body. These datasets will be critical in identifying candidate factors to drive differentiation of particular lineages as well as analysing the effectiveness of these in vitro  engineered cells. They will also take advantage of extensive experience in genome engineering of hiPSCs (>300 lines have been made), in vitro  differentiation, and access to hundreds of hiPSC lines from the HipSci initiative (https://www.hipsci.org/ ).