Postdoctoral Training Fellow : London, United Kingdom

Job Title: Postdoctoral Training Fellow
Closing Date of vacancy: 18 September 2015
Division: Molecular Pathology
Team: Systems and Precision Cancer Medicine
Type of Contract: Fixed Term 
Length of Contract: 1 year in the first instance
Salary Range: £29,517 pa – £42,187 pa inclusive (full salary scale) 
Work Location: Sutton (Surrey) 
Hours per week: 35

The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is one of the world’s most influential cancer research institutes, with an outstanding record of achievement dating back more than 100 years. We provided the first convincing evidence that DNA damage is the basic cause of cancer, laying the foundation for the now universally accepted idea that cancer is a genetic disease. Today, The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) leads the world at isolating cancer-related genes and discovering new targeted drugs for personalised cancer treatment. Under the leadership of our Chief Executive, Professor Paul Workman FMedSci, the ICR is ranked as the UK’s leading academic research centre. Together with our partner The Royal Marsden, we are rated in the top four cancer centres globally. The ICR is committed to attracting, developing and retaining the best minds in the world to join us in our mission – to make the discoveries that defeat cancer.

We seek a motivated and independent Postdoctoral Training Fellow, funded by Breast Cancer Now Charity, to play a key role in facilitating the wet-lab research of the Systems and Precision Cancer Medicine Team (Team Leader Anguraj Sadanandam). Our lab focuses on inter- and intra-tumoral heterogeneity at the molecular and metabolic levels and how they contribute to variations in metastatic potential, prognosis and therapeutic responses in patients. To this end, we have classified different tumor types including breast cancer cell lines, and pancreatic and colorectal tumours and cell lines into distinct molecular and/or drug response subtypes (Heiser and Sadanandam et al. PNAS 2012, Collisson and Sadanandam et al. Nature Medicine 2011, and Sadanandam et al. Nature Medicine 2013). In addition, we have identified subtype-specific cellular origin and molecular mechanisms and suggested possible precise therapies using combined (systems biology) wet-lab and bioinformatics approaches. Currently, our goal is to identify and refine tumor subtype-specific robust biomarkers (genetic, epigenetic, metabolic, pathway, network and/or cell type), develop and validate biomarker assays and screen for targeted therapies and understand their mechanisms of action using pre-clinical (both in vitro and in vivo) studies. This will help us to improve disease management and avoid over- or under-treatment.

The successful candidate will help us in characterizing the functional role of a novel fusion gene in breast cancer subtype-specific cellular phenotype (stemness), metabolism, targeted-therapy and drug resistance using wet-lab experiments. The project will involve patient samples, in vitro and in vivo models, and drug resistance and RNAi experiments. He/she will enjoy working in the interdisciplinary fields and collaborating with our internal and external collaborators. The post-holder will be a highly motivated and well-organised individual with a great attention to detail and strong analytical skills. The responsibilities include day-to-day laboratory operations such as cell culture, different molecular biology and biochemical techniques (including, but not limited to DNA, RNA and protein isolation, isolation, RT-PCR, Western blots, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, FISH and metabolite analysis) and in vivo experiments and interpretation of the results. In addition, the appointee will work closely with the team and other collaborators to develop and validate hypothesis that will arise out of the high-throughput omics data including genomics and metabolomics.

Applicants should have experience in laboratory management, molecular biology and biochemical techniques, cell culture and in vivo experiments. Excellent organisational and communication skills are required.

The successful applicant will hold a PhD in biochemistry, molecular biology or any biological science. Experience in computational biology/bioinformatics is desirable.

This is an excellent opportunity for an independent and motivated individual to work in an exciting and highly collaborative environment. The position is offered on a fixed-term contract of 1 year in the first instance. The full salary scale for the post is £29,517 to £42,187 p.a. inclusive. Starting salary will be based on previous postdoctoral experience.