Research Assistant

About us

Our mission is to maximise and advocate for the holistic health of all children, young people and the adults they will become, through world-class research, education and public engagement. The UCL GOS ICH, together with its clinical partner Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, forms the largest concentration of children’s health research outside North America. The 2024-29 GOS ICH strategy focuses on its five scientific programmes. GOS ICH’s activities include active engagement with children and families, to ensure that our work is relevant and appropriate to their needs. GOS ICH generates the funding for our research by setting out our proposals in high quality applications to public, charitable and industrial funding bodies and disseminates the results of our research by publication in the medical and scientific literature, to clinicians, policy makers and the wider public. The Institute offers world-class education and training across a wide range of teachin g and life learning programmes which address the needs of students and professional groups who are interested in and undertaking work relevant to child health. GOS ICH holds an Athena SWAN Charter Gold Award. Please only attach relevant documents to your application (qualifications, cover letters, supporting statements) and avoid attaching large files e.g. research papers, thesis, publications etc.

About the role

We are seeking a highly motivated Research Assistant to join the Chatzeli group at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (GOS ICH). This role offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to a multidisciplinary project funded by the Wellcome Trust, investigating how branching morphogenesis scales across species. The Research Assistant will work closely with the PhD students, collaborators and postdocs in the Chatzeli lab to aid their experiments and allow smooth running of the lab. Working with both mouse and human developing salivary glands, we will uncover how organs grow, branch and pattern themselves over different timescales and sizes. You will be involved in establishing and maintaining organoid and whole organ cultures, imaging whole organs, and supporting the quantitative analysis of branching behaviour using advanced microscopy and computational tools. The role also involves supporting computational analysis of transcriptomic datasets and assisting with the day‑to‑day running of the laboratory and animal maintenance. This project sits at the interface of developmental biology, quantitative imaging, and computational analysis, offering an excellent opportunity for someone interested in interdisciplinary research. The salary offered is £39,807 per annum and is funded for 2 years in the first instance.

About you

You will have a degree in a relevant biomedical or life sciences and practical experience in laboratory research (e.g. biomedical science, genetics, biochemistry, biology). You will have experience working in a laboratory setting. Experience with mouse models, organoids, primary tissue culture and imaging is advantageous. A strong interest in developmental biology, quantitative imaging and computational analysis will be advantageous for this role. Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail are crucial, along with enthusiasm, curiosity and teamwork.