King's College London

About Us

The School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences (SCMMS) is one of six schools that make up the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine (FoLSM) at King College London. The School drives translation of world-leading basic science into advances in clinical practices with activities focusing on the Cardiac Biomedicine Department of Diabetes and Vascular Biomedicine.    

About the role

This position is for a talented and enthusiastic research assistant to work on a British Heart Foundation funded project focusing on the investigation of the molecular determinants of epicardial epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to enable cardiovascular regeneration under the supervision of Dr Joaquim Nunes Vieira.

The successful applicant will assist with animal colony husbandry and maintenance, phenotyping of novel mouse models, culture of mouse and human primary cells, imaging by epifluorescence and/or confocal microscopy, and make use of standard cell and molecular biology techniques (e.g., immunostaining, western blotting, cloning, PCR, real-time qRT-PCR, multiplex in situ hybridization, etc). Responsibility also includes managing your own research and administrative activities; determining the most appropriate methodologies to test hypotheses; selecting, following, and adapting experimental protocols; gathering, analysing, and presenting scientific data from a variety of sources and contributing to discussions and share research findings with colleagues in partner institutions, and research groups.

We therefore seek to appoint an individual with a good Undergraduate and/or Masters degree in a relevant field (e.g., cell/molecular biology, biochemistry or life/biological sciences) and a strong background in cell and molecular biology as well as experience of working with in vivo mouse models of cardiac development and disease. Experience in contributing to reports and articles for publication is desirable. The postholder will be part of a vibrant multi-disciplinary research group working on different aspects of understanding mechanisms and identifying novel advanced therapies for cardiovascular regeneration, within the King’s BHF Centre of Research Excellence which has state-of-the-art laboratory facilities. 

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until the 30th September 2026.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Good undergraduate and/or Masters degree in a relevant field (e.g. cell/molecular biology, biochemistry or life/biological sciences)
2. Proven experience in working in a scientific laboratory
3. Strong background in cell/molecular/developmental biology and/or genetics
4. Experience in setting up cellular, molecular and/or biochemical assays and/or cell imaging and/or tissue/cell culture
5. Experience of following and adapting protocols and selecting appropriate experimental methodologies
6. Be highly motivated and hard-working, with the capacity to work independently, think creatively and a demonstrated ability to work as part of a team and undertake share of group tasks
7. Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write text that can be published, present data at conferences, and represent the research group at meetings
8. Able to plan and prioritise workload and keep clear and well-organised laboratory notes and records

Desirable criteria

1. Background in cardiovascular biology
2. Experience in mammalian cell culture, including differentiation assays using human ESC and/or iPSCs
3. Experience working with transgenic mouse models, including handling, tissue harvesting and microdissection, and colony husbandry and maintenance (e.g. Genotyping)
4. Have a personal licence to work with animals in the UK or be prepared to obtain such a licence via attendance of in-house courses
5. Experience of contributing to reports/articles for publication and/or applying computational analysis to process and analyse large datasets (e.g. R, Phyton, IMARIS, CellProfiler, etc)

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

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. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held on the week commencing on the 19th May 2025.

This post is subject to Occupational Health clearances.