Postdoctoral Research Associate

About the role

We are seeking 2 talented and committed postdoctoral research associates to join the group of Professor Stuart Neil at King’s College London. The successful candidates will be responsible for designing, performing, analysing and presenting their experimental work to understand the role of innate immune signalling manipulation by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in the pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS.

HIV-1 encodes accessory proteins Vpr and Vpu that modulate proinflammatory signalling in infected CD4+ T cells and macrophages by targeting known and unidentified cellular factors for ubiquitin-dependent degradation. The successful candidates will perform research projects within the aims of an over-arching MRC programme grant to understand the role of these processes in the pathophysiology of HIV/AIDS. These projects will encompass some or all of the following:

• Using Cut-and-Tag seq and related genomic approaches to understand the regulation of proinflammatory transcription factors across the replication cycle of HIV-1 in primary human target cells.
• To use biochemical, proteomic and microscopy-based approaches to understand function and cellular targets of Vpr and Vpu in the viral manipulation of inflammatory signalling pathways.
• To characterise the function of HIV-1 accessory proteins in primary cell models of HIV-1 latency and the potential for modulating the establishment of the viral reservoir in people living with HIV.

This is a full-time role and you will be offered a 3 year fixed term contract. The earliest start date is 01/01/2025.  Professor Neil is keen to support the career development and training of successful candidates, and applications for external postdoctoral fellowships if desired.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

• PhD qualified in virology, immunology or other relevant subject *
• Track record of publication or clear potential for publication of their postgraduate work in leading high-profile biomedical journals
• Excellent written and presentational skills
• Experience in handling, culture and propagation of human pathogens
• Extensive experience in major molecular biology, biochemistry and cell biology techniques
• Experience in both performing and the bioinformatic analyses of datasets from genetic/transcriptomic OR proteomic experiments
• Ability to work collegially within a team and with external collaborators

*  Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6. 

Desirable criteria

• Experience in handling and the molecular manipulation of HIV-1 or related viruses
• Experience in fluorescent microscopy and live cell imaging
• Performing and analysing nanopore-based sequencing
• Experience in handling and flow cytometric analysis of primary human blood cells

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