Senior Laboratory Research Scientist – Developmental Signalling Lab, The Francis Crick Institute, London

Closing Date:

07/Jan/2022 23.59 GMT

Job Description:

The Francis Crick Institute Developmental Signalling Laboratory, led by Caroline Hill, is seeking a highly motivated Senior Laboratory Research Scientist (SLRS) with expertise in zebrafish development to support ongoing projects in the lab as well as to lead their own independent research project. The successful candidate will manage day-to-day lab operations and the lab budget, train PhD students and postdocs, and will drive their own independent project focused on predominantly on using zebrafish as a disease model. They will also support other research in the lab where appropriate and help generate and maintain zebrafish lines. The successful candidate should be strongly motivated to do research as well as having good organisational skills to be able to successfully manage the lab operationally.

Project summary

The Hill lab is focused on understanding how TGF-β family signalling pathways function normally during early vertebrate development and in adult untransformed tissue culture cells, and how deregulated TGF-β family signalling causes diseases like cancer and the Marfan syndromes. To do this they exploit the very powerful combination of early vertebrate developmental systems (zebrafish embryos), together with a variety of model tissue culture systems, and mouse models. Methodologies used range from developmental and cell biology and next generation sequencing to computational modelling. Excluding the current vacancy for the SLRS, the group comprises around ten people - a mixture of postdocs, PhD students and masters students. Four of the lab members focus primarily on working on these signalling pathways in the context of zebrafish development, whilst the others focus on the more mechanistic and disease aspects of signalling, using in vitro models and mouse models.

For more information about the lab and current research see https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/labs/caroline-hill

For some recent publications see:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34737283/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34003511/

The main project that the SLRS will focus on concerns determining how deregulated TGF-β family signalling leads to diseases such as the Marfan syndromes. The SLRS will use CRISPR/Cas9 editing in zebrafish embryos to generate zebrafish models of these diseases to unravel the underlying molecular mechanisms. Candidates with a strong proven expertise in zebrafish embryology and genetics and in molecular biology are encouraged to apply.

Key responsibilities

These include but are not limited to:

Carrying out research projects independently and in collaboration with other members of the lab.

Generating and maintaining zebrafish lines

Lab management – day-to-day operation of the lab, e.g. ordering reagents, equipment care, managing the lab budget, database management etc

Representing the lab when necessary in the Institute

Training new lab members

Support lab members, including PhD Students, providing advice and guidance as required

Key experience and competencies

The post holder should embody and demonstrate our core Crick values: bold, imaginative, open, dynamic and collegial, in addition to the following :

Essential

Qualifications, experience and competencies:

PhD in developmental biology

Good knowledge and experience of working with zebrafish as a developmental system and technical expertise in zebrafish embryology and imaging

Good knowledge and experience of molecular biology

Track record of writing papers as evidenced by publications or submitted manuscripts in refereed journals

Ability to work independently and also in a team

Strong organisational skills and thorough record-keeping

Excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to provide feedback and guidance to other lab members and teams where needed

Good interpersonal skills enabling the postholder to influence and build effective relationship both within the lab and in collaboration with colleagues

Strong interest in pursuing independent research

Desirable

Qualifications, experience and competencies:

Experience in signal transduction research

Experience with mouse models

To apply follow this link:

For more information, please contact Caroline Hill (caroline.hill@crick.ac.uk)