Research Associate in Synthetic Biology and Microbial Strain Engineering (Computational or Experimental)

Updated: almost 2 years ago
Location: Manchester, ENGLAND
Job Type: FullTime
Deadline: 06 Jun 2022

Applications are invited for a Research Associate to work on the H2020-funded “SHIKIFACTORY100: Modular cell factories for the shikimate pathway” project based within the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. This project involves a total of 11 academic and industry partners from 7 different European countries. The aim of the SHIKIFACTORY100 project is the production of a universe of more than 100 high-added value compounds from the shikimate pathway, a hub in cell metabolism.

You will join a team of researchers in the SHIKIFACTORY100 consortium based in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, working alongside two other metabolic engineering scientists and a computational biologist. This is either a computational position or a wet-lab experimental one, depending on the expertise of the applicants. As a computational strain engineer, you would be responsible for the discovery and design of novel biosynthetic routes towards the consortium target compounds, and the on-going upgrade and improvement of the computational retrosynthesis tools employed in this project. As an experimental strain engineering scientist, you would be responsible for rapid prototyping of production using manual and robotic DNA assembly, microbe transformation, and genome editing in Escherichia coli; phenotyping and screening of the created strains using high-throughput UPLC/HPLC/LC-MS/MS platforms and strain optimisation. As part of both types of position, there will be on-going development of strategies. This project will be supervised by Prof. Rainer Breitling.

You will hold a PhD (or equivalent) in Biochemistry / Bioengineering / Chemical Engineering / Synthetic Biology / Systems Biology / Computational Biology / Computational Chemistry / Bioinformatics (or a related subject area), and have technical skills in several of the following areas: advanced genetic engineering (computational or experimental), biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, synthetic biology, and metabolic engineering, bioinformatics, software development, metabolic modelling, and retrosynthesis.

As this role involves research at a postgraduate level, applicants who are not an EEA national or a national of an exempt country and who will require sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route of the UK Visas and Immigration’s (UKVI) Points Based System in order to take up the role, will be required to apply for an Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) Certificate and will need to obtain this prior to making any official visa application UKVI)

The School/Department is strongly committed to promoting equality and diversity, including the Athena SWAN charter for gender equality in higher education. The School/Department holds a Silver Award which recognises their good practice in relation to gender; including flexible working arrangements, family-friendly policies, and support to allow staff achieve a good work-life balance. We particularly welcome applications from women for this post. All appointment will be made on merit. For further information, please visit: http://www.chemistry.manchester.ac.uk/about-us/athena-swan/

Our University is positive about flexible working – you can find out more here

Blended working arrangements may be considered         

Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Name: Rainer Breitling

Email: [email protected]

General enquiries:

Email: [email protected]

Technical support:

https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.



Similar Positions