Research Associate / Senior Research Associate in Nutrition and Immunity in Pregnancy

Salary: 

£37,999 – £43,878 (Grade I);

£42,632 - £47,874 (Grade J), per annum depending on experience

The role

We are seeking an experienced postdoc to work on our UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project ‘Nutrition and immunity in pregnancy: maternal responses and consequences for offspring’. Broadly, this project seeks to take an evolutionary perspective on how pregnant mothers respond to the dual challenges of nutritional and immune stressors, and the immediate and long-term consequences for their offspring. We use a combination of evolutionary models, experiments on viviparous insects (tsetse and Pacific beetle-mimic cockroaches) and analyses of health studies in human populations across contrasting geographic contexts.

The postdoc will play a critical role in implementing the ambitious experiments on nutrition and infection in pregnant insects. They will also have the opportunity to be involved in human cohort data analysis, with particular focus on data which overlap with the insect experiments (including the metabolic and epigenomic data). They will work under mentorship of Sinead English, in collaboration with a research technician and project partners at the Universities of Cincinnati (US), Stellenbosch (South Africa), Macquarie (Australia), on the insect studies; and with collaborators in Exeter and King’s College London, for the human studies.

What will you be doing?

Research Responsibilities

• Design and execution of the long-term experiments on nutrition and infection in Glossina and Diploptera punctata.
• Organising samples for molecular analyses and handling of large genomic datasets.
• Processing and analysing experimental data and leading on manuscript preparation.
• Presentation of results both to local research groups and wider audiences at conferences.
• Contribution to the analyses of human cohort studies from ALSPAC and MRC The Gambia.

Administration Responsibilities

• Managing and storing data.
• Appropriate health and safety documentation and risk assessments.
• Participate in activities to encourage engagement with research beyond academia.
• Undertake relevant training and development activities specific to the research.
• Act as a good citizen, actively participating in activities of the research group and department.

You should apply if

The role will suit someone with expertise in conducting laboratory experiments on insect models, in the extraction and processing of samples for molecular analysis, and excellent data processing and handling skills. In addition, expertise in, or enthusiasm for, comparative transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses will be desirable. Finally, an enthusiasm for linking evolutionary insights to topics of public health importance is required for this post. 

Additional information

For informal queries about the role please contact:

Dr Sinead English - sinead.english@bristol.ac.uk

Contract type: Open-ended (Fixed funding for 2 years)

Interviews will be held on 24 or 25 March 2025.

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