King's College London

About Us

From molecules to medicines: using science to transform health:- The Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at King’s College London is organised into Departments that work together towards the development of toxicological and forensic science; the discovery of novel medicines & new formulations that can be evaluated in the clinic; and providing a better understanding of how to optimise the use of existing medicines by patients and healthcare professionals.

About The Role

The role will be of post-doctoral research assistant (PDRA) to Drs R John & Sylvia Dobbs, Joint Leads, Host Microbiome Interaction Group: Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King’s College London and King’s Health Partners.

We look at Parkinson’s disease as an immune or inflammatory response in the brain, driven by what is happening in the gut. In order to manage Parkinson’s disease in an individual, one needs to understand how they reached their current state, what would happen if left untreated, and what intervention has the prospect of get them to a better position. A model is needed into which to feed critical information and retrieve cause/effect insights on which to base logical decisions. Biological information cuts across diagnostic boundaries and blanket descriptors of disease manifestations.

We take a bottom-up approach to building this cause/effect model. It includes black box deconstruction to ascertain fundamental disease components and a rational rebuild. We endeavour to understand each layer of potential drivers in the gut (e.g. bacteria and their products, fungi, protozoa, viruses), their interaction, and opportunities for intervention in causal pathways. Interventions allow the shift from describing ‘associations’ between the biology and clinical outcome to discussing ‘cause and effect’, with the prospect of clinical trial design to bring research findings into practice. 

The appointee will help generate this biological information, by laboratory work on microbiome and specific pathogens, metabolome and immunome as well as clinical phenotyping in participants. 

The work will involve close collaboration with other team members, driving the programme on aetiopathology of neuropsychiatric disease forward. It will also involve routine but necessary tasks/responsibilities.

This is a full time (35 Hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 2 years with possibility of extension.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. PhD in discipline of direct relevance to the work (e.g. molecular and cellular biology, immunology, metabolomics). 
2. Significant practical laboratory experience [e.g. nucleic acid extraction techniques (both manual and automated), developing real-time PCR assays and gene sequencing methods, ELISA. 
3. Being highly motivated, strong collaborative spirit, with excellent communication skills. 
4. Having demonstrated organisational skills, initiative and ability to work independently within set guidelines, aiming for deadlines. 
5. Ability to contribute pro-actively to/and conduct research (including gathering, preparing and analysing data, thinking critically, generating ideas and presenting results).

Desirable criteria

1. A thorough knowledge and practical experience of nucleic acid analysis software, including BLAST, Clustal Omega and primer design software. 
2. Experience in clinical phenotyping in neuropsychiatric or gastrointestinal disease 
3. Capability in reviewing literature and informed on developments in the field in technical, specific and general terms. 
4. Experience placing orders on businessworld (an asset but courses can be attended) 
5. Experience in presenting research results at national /international conferences, or in contributing to the publication of research studies in peer-reviewed journals. 

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”. 

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 in May or June.