Research Associate in Cell Culture Screening of Proteins and Nanomaterials

Full-time: 35 hours per week

Fixed-term: for up to 24 months

Where curiosity becomes impact

The University isn’t just any employer. We are part of a local community and a contributor to global thinking, progress and research. In Edinburgh, you are in one of the world’s most attractive cities with active arts and social sectors, while working in a University that has made significant contributions to society, medicine, physics and teaching for over four centuries. Our people have helped create the modern world and are working on more ground-breaking technologies and practices. Join the University of Edinburgh and you’ll be making a difference to everything around you.

The University of Edinburgh is a world-class organisation. We look for the best in the field across all disciplines and provide a working environment where academics can develop their careers and passion for their chosen subject area. We offer the full range of academic roles and have a genuine focus on our students performance and wellbeing.

Join a world-leading research community at the University of Edinburgh, where ambitious interdisciplinary research is translated into new approaches to major scientific and societal challenges.

The opportunity:

Develop next-generation magnetic nanoparticle technologies for drug delivery to the CNS. This is an academic research role.

The School of Engineering seeks to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cell Culture Screening of Proteins and Nanomaterials to contribute to an Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA)-funded project on targeted drug transport to the Central Nervous System (CNS). The post will be supervised by Prof Guangzhao Mao and will involve close collaboration with Prof Michael Chen and Dr Jamie Marland in the School of Engineering, Prof Giles Hardingham in the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, and other ARIA project partners.

The successful candidate will develop and operate microfluidic platforms for mammalian cell culture and biological assay development, with a particular focus on primary neurons and applications in nanomaterial screening and CNS delivery. The role will combine mammalian cell culture, biological assays, fluorescence microscopy, and quantitative image and data analysis to investigate protein and nanoparticle movement within and across cells and nanomaterial-cell interactions relevant to the CNS.

Applicants should have, or be within three months of completing, a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, or a closely related discipline. Expertise in mammalian cell culture, including primary neurons, biological assays, fluorescence microscopy and quantitative image/data analysis is particularly relevant. Knowledge of molecular and cellular neuroscience and experience or a strong interest in nanomaterial-cell interactions are also valuable.

We are looking for a motivated researcher with expertise in neuronal cell culture, microfluidic assay development and quantitative cellular analysis to join this collaborative ARIA-funded programme.

This post is full-time. The role is primarily laboratory-based on the University of Edinburgh campus.