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’s College London. The School drives translation of world-leading basic science into advances in clinical practices with activities focusing on Diabetes, Cardiac Biomedicine and Vascular Biomedicine.   

About The Role

Applications are invited for a two-year Research Technician position working on a project funded by the Steve Morgan Foundation entitled ‘Towards translation: improving the functional survival of stem cell-derived beta cells’. The successful applicant will work under the supervision of Profs Shanta Persaud, Aileen King and Peter Jones in the Department of Diabetes within the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences at King’s College London. The project aims to improve the generation of functional beta cells from human pluripotent stem cells, and to ensure the optimal performance of stem cell-derived beta cells/islets. The research technician will provide support to post-doctoral researchers and research assistants working on this project. 

The successful candidate will have a BSc or MSc in a relevant biomedical sciences subject and have experience of carrying out mammalian cell biology research in vitro and/or in vivo. The main responsibilities will be supporting our research on differentiating human pluripotent stem cells towards a beta cell phenotype; and evaluating the functional characteristics of stem cell-derived islets in vitro and in vivo. This post will suit applicants with hands-on experience of at least some of the following techniques: mammalian cell culture; immunoassay, RT-qPCR; immunohistochemistry; analysis of metabolic function in vivo.

This technician post will be held within a vibrant islet biology research community at the Guy’s campus of King’s College London. Further information about ongoing islet biology research in the Department of Diabetes at King’s College London may be found here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/islet-biology. Specific queries relating to the post can be directed to shanta.persaud@kcl.ac.uk 

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for two years.

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. BSc or MSc in a biomedical sciences subject. 
2. Research experience in a relevant biomedical science area. 
3. Practical experience of general cell biology techniques, such as mammalian cell culture, RT-qPCR, immunohistochemistry, immunoassays. 

Desirable criteria

1. Recent or current holder of Home Office Personal Licence (or equivalent). 
2. Experience of small animal surgery. 
3. Experience of stem cell culture. 

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 page. 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.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

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 August.

This post is subject to Occupational Health clearances.