Senior Scientific Officer – Dr Cassie Clarke

Exploiting pyrimidine metabolism as a cancer prevention and intervention strategy

Contract term: Fixed for 18 months

About us

The CRUK Scotland Institute is a cancer research institute, situated in Glasgow with approximately 250 researchers split across 30 research groups consisting of PIs, postdoctoral scientists, PhD students and scientific officers. It is one of Europe's leading cancer research centres, supporting cutting-edge work into the molecular mechanisms of cancer development. As well as core support from Cancer Research UK, the Institute also receives an additional third of its total income from external grants and industry collaborations. It has an excellent reputation for fundamental cancer research, including world-class metabolism studies and renowned in vivo modelling of tumour growth and metastasis. Its research ethos is about excellence, honesty, openness, accountability and integrity.

Background

Our previous work has shown that altered immune and metabolic landscapes can facilitate metastasis. Specifically, we find that catabolism of pyrimidines is increased in activated neutrophils, with elevated expression of uridine phosphorylase 1 (UPP1), an enzyme which cleaves uridine into uracil and ribose-1-phosphate, detected in neutrophils from tumour-bearing mice compared to wild-type controls. Importantly, we find that UPP1 high neutrophils demonstrate altered behaviours which generate microenvironments that enable cancer cells to colonise tissues (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.02.601676v1).

Position Outline

We currently have a vacancy for a Senior Scientific Officer to work on a project that will assess UPP1 in the context of early disease and cancer prevention. To be considered for this position you will have a degree within a scientific discipline relevant to cancer biology, in addition to a minimum of 3 – 4 years practical lab experience. A PhD would be highly advantageous but is not essential. This position may therefore be ideally suited for candidates that have recently finished their PhD and are pending viva. The project will use mouse models of mammary cancer, flow cytometry-based analysis of immune cell populations and metabolic analysis of cells and tissues. Whilst appropriate training can be provided for flow cytometry and metabolomic based techniques, ideal candidates will already have significant experience with mouse models and preferably hold a UK Home Office Personal Licence. The project will be conducted under the supervision of Dr Cassie Clarke, hosted within the lab of Professor Jim Norman at the CRUK Scotland Institute.

Further to the previously described requirements, successful candidates will be expected to work well both independently and as part of a team, have good communication and organisational skills, experience with accurate record keeping and database management, and be strongly motivated to learn new techniques and drive experimental work forward to increase our understanding of immunometabolism in early disease and cancer prevention.

For informal enquiries, please email Dr Cassie Clarke: c.clarke@crukscotlandinstitute.ac.uk

Employee Benefits

• Competitive salary
• 40.5 days annual leave including bank holidays (pro-rata)
• Defined Contribution pension scheme
• Life Insurance scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Season ticket loan
• Additional maternity pay at 6 month’s full pay (subject to service)
• Shared parental leave
• Cycle to work scheme that could save you 26-40% on a bike and accessories.
• Access to Employee benefit schemes with discounts on supermarkets, cinema, travel and much more.
• On-site secure parking

All applications must be made through our website (via the ‘Apply’ button above).

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