Research Assistant

Job id: 086265. Salary: £37,332-£42,099 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.

Posted: 13 March 2024. Closing date: 01 April 2024.

Business unit: Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. Department: Randall Cell & Molecular Biophysics.

Contact details:Professor Jody Rosenblatt. [email protected]

Location: Guy's Campus. Category: Research.

This post is for a Research Assistant who will help investigate how epithelia responds to crowding to trigger extrusion. Our lab identified cell extrusion as a critical process driving epithelial cell death. Importantly, excess crowding from a bronchoconstrictive event in asthma can cause so much extrusion that it will destroy the airway epithelial barrier, driving subsequent inflammatory period. To identify new ways to block this process and why some individuals are more affected by it, we need a better understanding of the signalling and mechanisms that drive extrusion. Our work has centred on the role of Piezo1, which serves as an excellent therapeutic target in asthma.

For this posting, we seek someone who can work with a team to investigate how an organelle that controls extrusion forms and disassembles within epithelial cells. The successful candidate will help elucidate this problem using biochemical, metabolism, and cell biological approaches to identify how mechanical crowding translates into the signalling that drives extrusion. The rest of our lab studies epithelial cell extrusion and its impacts on asthma and tumour cell invasion. You will also be required to help organise and run the lab. Please see https://www.rosenblattlab.com for more details about what our lab does.

This is a lab-based role for the duration of the contract, which will require the following: 

• Undertake basic research by preparing, setting up, conducting and recording the outcome of experiments, the development of questionnaires and conducting surveys
• Conduct literature searches and update knowledge and develop skills
• Write up results of own research
• Contribute to the production of research reports and publications
• Present information on research progress and outcomes
• Supervise research
• Liaise with research colleagues and support staff on routine matters
• Make internal and external contacts to develop knowledge and form relationships for future collaboration
• Actively participate as a member of a research team
• Attend and contribute to relevant meetings
• Make use of standard research techniques and methods
• Deal with problems which may affect the achievement of research
• Contribute to decisions affecting the work of the team
• Analyse and interpret the results of own research and generate original ideas based on outcomes
• Plan day-to-day research activity within the framework of the agreed programme
• Co-ordinate own work with that of others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort
• Contribute to planning of research projects

This post will be offered on a full time, fixed-term contract to 25th June 2026.

• Identifying mechanisms that activate Piezo1.   
• Defining outcomes of inability to extrude or excess extrusion on epithelial health. 
• Using proteomics & lipidomics to identify components of new Piezo1 structure 
• Conduct work independently with good notes and analysis presented weekly in one-on-one meetings. 
• Presenting work at internal and potentially local meetings 
• Help writing papers and assisting other team members 
• Live and fixed imaging at many scales 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Essential criteria

Further information

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 advert.

This post is subject to Occupational Health clearance.