Research Technician - Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy - Post 99635

Position Details

Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy 

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK 

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £24,291 to £26,094, with potential progression once in post to £30,207

Band 500 

Full Time fixed term contract 12 months  (*Part Time Applications will also be considered)

Closing date:  12 June 2022 

Our offer to you  

People are at the heart of what we are and do.   

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university.  We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. 

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential.  With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. 

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate.  We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work. 

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working.  In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. 

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site.  On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens. 

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham  

Background 

The candidate will provide technical expertise to two collaborating MRC-funded immunology laboratories which share lab space in the Institute of Biomedical Research at the University of Birmingham (with time split 50/50 between the two groups). The post will be jointly supervised by Dr David Bending and Dr Rebecca Drummond, who are based at the Institute of Immunology & Immunotherapy, College of Medical & Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham. 

The Drummond group specialises in dissecting mechanisms underlying organ-specific immune responses to fungal pathogens. This research primarily employs animal models of fungal diseases to investigate inflammatory processes occurring during infection, focusing largely on the tissues of the central nervous system (see Drummond et al 2019 Nat Immunol and Drummond 2017 J Fungi).

The Bending group employs animal models of T cell mediated tolerance or immunogenic preclinical tumour models. In particular, we utilise state of the art T Cell Receptor signalling reporters to monitor T cell activation and interrogate mechanism that control the magnitude of immune responses in health and disease (See Jennings et al. Cell Reports 2020, Elliot et al. Immunity 2021).
We are particularly keen to hear from candidates with previous in vivo immunology experience and handling/working with mice. This appointment will heavily involve the use of flow cytometry and histology, hence prior experience with these techniques would be desirable. 

The candidate will join a friendly, growing group of scientists which comprises of 2 post-doctoral fellows and 6 PhD students, with regular rotating MSc/BSc level students. Our labs host regular shared lab meetings and journal clubs, and there will be ample opportunity for further training and career development.

Job summary
You will provide technical expertise, support and guidance in research support.  You may supervise a number of technical staff but even where you do not directly supervise staff you will still be expected to act as a role model and coach others as appropriate.

You will need an in-depth understanding of the research questions, techniques and experimental protocols.  You will be able to use your in-depth knowledge to advise on procedures, diagnose and resolve problems, and proactively suggest solutions to issues which arise.  You may need to operate out of normal working hours to accommodate experimental procedures. 

In order to flexibly use resource you may be offered the opportunity to work in different areas of the department or wider university.

Main duties

• You will be responsible for assisting the managing and execution of in vivo experiments (e.g. mouse models of infection, cancer, vaccination).

• You will use your in-depth knowledge of methods and procedures to advise on techniques and experimental procedures being used by researchers and/or students (e.g. flow cytometry, histology/microscopy, tissue culture, genotyping/molecular biology).  This will involve communicating with colleagues at a range of levels and inexperienced students. 

• You will need to be able to diagnose and resolve problems and suggest solutions in regard to techniques and experiments.

• Carry out specialist technical and experimental procedures which will need you to use your judgment to assess the correct technique to use, and to consider how these may be improved, referring to your manager for approval on any proposed changes.

• You will need to maintain accurate records of all techniques and experimental procedures you carry out, and for any other research activities you may be involved in including results. 

• Ensure compliance with legislation relevant to the area of research/activity.

• Comply with and promote the operating procedures for the area, including the classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures regulation.

• You may contribute to internal and external audit procedures and to regulatory inspections.

Health and Safety duties

• Proactive support for health and safety within the laboratory.  This may include being required to look after a communal area as part of your duties.  Comply with all current rules and ensure all required assessments are in place, approved and up to date.

• Fully understand the safety aspects of equipment operation and be able to demonstrate/train staff (at all levels) on the correct usage of the equipment.

• Ensuring that regular maintenance processes are carried out and that appropriate records are maintained. 

• Reporting any breaches or non-compliance with H&S procedures to the relevant manager(s).

• Upholding the correct waste disposal stream as governed by College and local policy for laboratory.

• Upholding the correct waste disposal stream as governed by College and local policy for the laboratory.

• Postholders may be asked to undergo training as a First Aider.

General Administration and Organisation

• Ensuring all records are accurate and kept up to date.

• Proactively maintain stocks of consumables, and when required generate purchase order requisitions using University systems.

• Receipt and correct storage of consumables/equipment and chemical reagents.

• Ensuring that the facilities are maintained in a clean, functional and safe condition, reporting any problems through the appropriate channels.

• Ensuring that PAT testing, calibration of equipment and locally and centrally held equipment inventories are up to date and maintained. 

• Adopt a proactive attitude to assisting with and implementing carbon reduction and energy saving measures. 

• Maintain a technical support based teaching laboratory website (how to guides for the preparation of materials, practical setup guides), and keeping these up to date as and when session requirements or protocols change or maintaining relevant research lab databases/records.

Other Duties

• In collaboration with the relevant manager the post holder will take an active role in the training and mentoring process for junior or newly appointed staff.

• Supports equality and values diversity, moderates own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others. 

• Any other duties as may reasonably be required.

Person Specification

• Holder of Home Office Personal Licence (PIL A/B)

• Extensive relevant workplace experience, equivalent professional qualification or degree in an appropriate subject.

• GCSE level 2 (A*- C/4-9) or equivalent level 2 qualification in mathematics and English. 

• In-depth practical knowledge of relevant technical and scientific methods. 

• Extensive experience of similar laboratory based work, together with familiarity with a wide range of laboratory equipment.

• Positive service attitude and shows courtesy in dealing with others.

• Ability to organise and manage own work load and demonstrate flexibility in terms of work practices/requirements.

• Ability to work under minimal supervision but function as part of a team. 

• Knowledge of current legislation relevant to the role.

• Knowledge of current H&S policies and ability to uphold same.

• Proficiency in commonly used software packages.

• Understands the importance of  equality and diversity in the workplace

• Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures

Further particulars can be found here: http://www.download.bham.ac.uk/vacancies/jd/MDSFPs.pdf

For informal enquries please contact David Bending ([email protected] ) or Rebecca Drummond ([email protected] )

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment 

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.