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

Applications are invited for the position of Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Diabetes at King’s College London (KCL), working in the laboratories of Prof Gavin Bewick.

The role focuses on delivering a high-impact translational research programme that dissects how neuropeptide Y5 receptor (Y5R) signalling in islet-resident immune cells can be harnessed to prevent or delay Type 1 diabetes, ultimately generating a compelling mechanistic and pre-clinical evidence base to support future clinical development. The post holder will drive studies that define how Y5R activation reprogrammes resident macrophages and other islet immune subsets towards a restorative, anti-inflammatory phenotype, identify key signalling pathways and biomarkers of efficacy, and test whether Y5R agonism can block pathogenic macrophage and T cell trafficking to, and destruction of, islets in both mouse and human model systems. A central purpose of the role is to bridge fundamental mechanistic immunology with translational proof-of-concept, using cutting-edge omics, advanced imaging, and in vivo models to de-risk Y5R agonists as a novel disease-modifying strategy for Type 1 diabetes.​

The researcher will be responsible to the Principal Investigator, Prof Gavin Bewick, who holds overall scientific and technical accountability for the project, and will work closely with co-applicants and collaborators including experts in macrophage biology, multi-omic and regulatory network analysis, and clinical translation of investigational therapies in Type 1 diabetes. Day-to-day, the post holder will be responsible for planning, executing, analysing and interpreting complex experiments spanning bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing of resident islet immune populations, macrophage functional assays (innate sensing, phagocytosis, antigen presentation, polarization, cytokine and growth factor secretion), and transwell-based invasion and migration platforms using reformed mouse and human islets. The role carries responsibility for ensuring experimental quality and reproducibility, coordinating sample acquisition from human islet biobanks and animal colonies, and integrating multi-modal datasets in collaboration with bioinformatics partners to define Y5R-dependent regulatory networks and therapeutic pathways.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 15 months from start of contract.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. Expertise in general molecular cell biology techniques such as cell/tissue culture, qRT-PCR, immunoassays, immunohistochemistry.
2. Experience in Confocal Microscopy
3. Willing and able to work in a team.
4. Ability to keep clear, well-organised laboratory notes and records and to keep clear and well-organised laboratory notes and records. 
5. Good communication (both written and verbal) and presentation skills. 
6. Pancreatic islet isolation from murine models 

Desirable criteria

1. Experience of in vitro assessment of cell function including viability, apoptosis, proliferation, ATP generation, secretory capacity, FACS.

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

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

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.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

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