Research Assistant in Reproductive Cell Biology

About Us

The School of Life Course & Population Sciences is one of six Schools that make up the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine at King’s College London. The School unites over 400 experts in women and children’s health, nutritional sciences, population health and the molecular genetics of human disease. Our research links the causes of common health problems to life’s landmark stages, treating life, disease and healthcare as a continuum. We are interdisciplinary by nature and this innovative approach works: 91 per cent of our research submitted to the Subjects Allied to Medicine (Pharmacy, Nutritional Sciences and Women's Health cluster) for REF was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. We use this expertise to teach the next generation of health professionals and research scientists. Based across King’s Denmark Hill, Guy’s, St Thomas’ and Waterloo campuses, our academic programme of teaching, research and clinical practice is embedded across five Departments.

About the Role

Applications are invited for the position of Research Assistant in Reproductive Cell Biology in the Department of Women & Children’s Health at King’s College London (KCL), working in the laboratories of Dr Kim Jonas.

This is a Merck Serono funded project to understand how hormonal treatments utilised during assisted conception impact ovarian function.

Our vision is to understand how different hormonal regimens impact the somatic cell functions of the ovary, with an ultimate end goal of refining and improving assisted conception treatment pathways and patient outcomes.

The postholder will be responsible for undertaking ovarian cell cultures, cell treatments and assessment of key signal pathway and gene expression. The successful candidate will have an MSc in a relevant biological sciences subject area and/or a biological sciences degree with at least 2 years laboratory experience, and have expertise in cell culture, cell and molecular biological techniques and cell signalling assays. Prior experience of working with reproductive systems and cell types would be a distinct advantage.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week) offered as a fixed term contract until 13th September 2026.

About You

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

Essential criteria

• MSc in biological science or BSc (2i minimum qualification) with minimum 2 years laboratory experience
• High level experience of cell culture of immortalized cell lines and primary cells
• Highly competent in standard biochemical and molecular biological techniques including transient transfections, siRNA knockdown, Western blotting, bacterial transformations, and plasmid isolations
• Strong organizational and time management skills, with the ability to multitask
• Ability to design, execute and analyze experiments to a high standard
• Willingness to work independently and as part of the wider laboratory group
• Have excellent communication (verbal and written) and interpersonal skills
• Committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion, actively addressing areas of potential bias

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working in reproductive physiology, particularly with ovarian cells
• Publication track record or experience of presenting their work at learned society meetings
• Experience working with G protein-coupled receptor second messenger signalling assays

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