Research Fellow in Antigen Display Characterisation

About us

This position is a key part of the Vaccines Manufacturing Hub for LMICs (VaxHub Global), led by UCL Biochemical Engineering and the University of Oxford with a number of academic and industrial partners. VaxHub Global is funded with a £10M grant from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and managed by The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), as part of the UK Vaccine Network, a UK Aid programme to develop vaccines for diseases with epidemic potential in LMICs. Additional co-funding from the EPSRC is provided to leverage impact for the UK. VaxHub Global builds on the success of Vax-Hub 1, which was originally formed in 2018 with a grant from the DHSC. Most prominently, Vax-Hub 1 research underpinned the development of the ChAdOx-1 nCoV-19 vaccine, subsequently licensed to AstraZeneca, with direct benefit to over 180 countries worldwide, including the UK. The vision for VaxHub Global is to deliver flexi ble, easily transferable multi-product platforms and simplified engineering solutions that enable development of low cost, effective and globally deployable vaccines to LMICs.

About the role

The postholder will develop experimental and computational tools to understand the formation, stability and function of covalent and non-covalent antigen display on protein nanoparticles for vaccines candidates. This will be achieved by using mass-transport simulations, immunoassays and analytics. Success will support better and advanced display strategies towards low cost, scalable and accessible modular vaccines for global good. The postholder will be one of a team of UCL-based researchers working as part of VaxHub Global, as well as several academic and industrial collaborators, so excellent team-working and communication skills will be required.

About you

You hold a PhD in a relevant discipline (e.g. Bio/Chemical Engineering) or a related area or in natural sciences reinforced with an emphasis on protein engineering and synthetic biology (e.g. Biotechnology, Biochemistry), and ideally possess experience in biochemical/biophysical analysis of protein assemblies, diagnostics and simulations.

We want to give people opportunity for development and this role is one where we could consider a wide range of different skills and experiences . Whilst all candidates must meet the essential criteria in order to be shortlisted, we actively encourage candidates who may not meet all of the desirable criteria to apply as we consider these to be areas the successful candidate can grow within the role.

For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Stefanie Frank at and Michael Thomas at

What we offer offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits. Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/

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