King's College London

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL CANIDATES ONLY

About Us

Professor Sheeba Irshad is a medical oncologist with an interest in investigating the antigenic drivers of immune response in chemotherapy resistant breast cancers. Laboratory work will take place in Dr Irshad’s laboratory within the school of cancer and pharmaceutical sciences, Innovation Hub laboratories This post holder will work closely with colleagues working with the Breast Cancer Now Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR, Prof Andrew Tutt’s team) working alongside other wet lab, in-vivo, histopathology and bioinformatics teams.

About The Role

The candidate will be expected to take direct responsibility of specific research projects by providing original intellectual input, research project management and assist in preparation of manuscripts of the experimental work. The post holder will be proficient in cell culture, cell function assays, protein assays (e.g. ELISA, western blot) and multi-colour flow cytometry. The post holder will receive relevant supervision and training in specialized assays and will meet with his/her line manager on a regular basis to review results and plan experiments.  Equally, once established, the post holder should be able to work independently without the requirement of day to day supervision.

The post holder is encouraged to contribute to the design and execution of experiments under the supervision of a clinician scientist.  In addition, the post holder is expected to establish and maintain a collaborative working relationship both internally and externally. Where appropriate, the post holder should provide specialized laboratory skills training to junior staff.    The post will be based in the innovation hub at the Guy’s Hospital Campus, and will involve interaction with colleagues within the Breast Cancer Now Research Unit at the Kings College London and the Breast Cancer Now Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research, London.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31-Jul-2028.

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. PhD awarded in cancer immunology or similar  
2. Experience in high dimensional FLOW  and Mass cytometry (CyTOF)
3. Knowledge of in-vitro immunological assays including 3 dimensional tumour-immune co-cultures
4. Knowledge of relevant imaging platforms (e.g. multiphoton microscopy) and techniques
5. Experience of tissue culture
6. Experience in working in multidisciplinary teams
7. In depth understanding of cancer immunology and immunotherapy
8. Interest in the field of translation cancer research

Desirable criteria

1. Experience in the study and analysis of components of the immune system such as innate lymphoid cells, natural killer cells, B cells,  monocyte/macrophage, and T regulatory cells
2. Basic knowledge of 3D imaging techniques and data analysis (R)
3. Track record of publishing in cancer immunology, immunotherapy and tumour microenvironment as well as abstracts and presentations at national and international level.

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.

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6. 

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.