King's College London

About Us

The School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences has attracted multi-million pound research funding and collaborates with other universities and Faculties within KCL, the NHS, charitable trusts and foundations, international Universities and industry.  

The post holder will work as part of a recently-funded EPSRC Programme grant, undertaking research into nanotheranostics, support academic and research staff and their academic collaborators in other institutions, hospitals and industry conducting this funded research and delivering outcomes that have real-world, life-improving impacts. 

About The Role

We are seeking a talented, highly motivated and enthusiastic Postdoctoral Research Associate as part of the EPSRC programme grant “Total Body Nuclear Imaging for the Development of Nanotheranostics”, This Programme involves 15 co-investigators in a range of disciplines related to PET imaging strategies for the development of healthcare nanomaterials for therapeutic and diagnostic applications, including clinical translation to benefit patients. The Programme is mainly hosted by the Research Department of Imaging Chemistry and Biology within the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences at King’s College London (KCL), with major additional contributions from colleagues at Queen Mary University of London and University of Leeds, as well as other Departments within KCL.

This role will be working within Theme 3 of the Programme: ‘Image-guided Surgery’ and will involve the synthesis and assessment of novel multimodal nanomaterials for healthcare applications and radiolabel for PET imaging.

Key responsabilities will include the synthesis and validation of dual modal nanomaterial for Image guided surgery applications. PET will be used for locating and staging tumours, fluorescence for resection.

The post holder will also be expected to work collaboratively within the Programme and provide their expertise and support to a large multidisciplinary team of chemists, radiochemists, (radio)biologists, pharmacists, and clinicians.

The successful candidate will have extensive experience in the design and synthesis of multimodal nanoparticles for PET imaging, synthetic chemistry, nanomaterial synthesis, and radiochemistry; be self-motivated; able to work independently, and will have excellent written and verbal communication skills.. They should be able to demonstrate a proven track record of scientific publications and presentation at international research meetings.

This is a full time post (35 Hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 3 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. PhD level qualified in synthetic chemistry, nanomaterials, radiochemistry (or relevant chemistry field) at or near completion*
2. Advanced knowledge in targeted (multi-modal) probe development.
3. Expertise in development and optimisation of nanomaterial synthesis methodology.
4. Advanced skills in study/experimental design and analysis of complex research data.
5. Basic knowledge of preclinical (in vitro and/or in vivo) validation.
6. Expertise in bioconjugation techniques (peptides, antibodies)
7. Excellent inter-personal skills with an ability to work co-operatively in a multidisciplinary setting, working closely with biologists, chemists and radiochemists and GMP radiopharmaceutical production facility.
8. Possess excellent written and verbal communication skills and maintain accurate and up-to-date records of all findings, and to make these available to other members of the team

Desirable criteria

1. Advanced knowledge in the use of analytical spectroscopy techniques.
2. Basic knowledge of one or more aspects of radiochemical synthesis (radiometal chelation, organic isotope labelling etc.) and/or photophysical molecular imaging properties.
3. Knowledge in the design of imaging probe validation experiments using a combination of in vivo, in vitro and analytical methods and experience of clinical research ethics and applications

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.

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.

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 person specification section of the job description. 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.

This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service and/or Occupational Health clearances.