Ref Number
B02-10777
Professional Expertise
Research and Research Support
Department
School of Life & Medical Sciences (B02)
Location
London
Working Pattern
Full time
Salary
See advert text
Contract Type
Fixed-term
Working Type
Hybrid
Available for Secondment
No
Closing Date
19-Jul-2026
The mission of the UCL GOS Institute of Child Health is to maximise and advocate for the holistic health of all children, young people and the adults they will become, through world-class research, education and public engagement. The UCL GOS ICH, together with its clinical partner Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, forms the largest concentration of children’s health research outside North America. The 2024-29 GOS ICH strategy focuses on its five scientific programmes. GOS ICH’s activities include active engagement with children and families, to ensure that our work is relevant and appropriate to their needs. GOS ICH generates the funding for our research by setting out our proposals in high quality applications to public, charitable and industrial funding bodies and disseminates the results of our research by publication in the medical and scientific literature, to clinicians, policy makers and the wider public. The Institute offers world-class education and training across a wide range of teaching and life learning programmes which address the needs of students and professional groups who are interested in and undertaking work relevant to child health. GOS ICH holds an Athena SWAN Charter Gold Award.
The post holder will work at the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Diseases in Children and UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health under supervision of Dr Sara Ghorashian, but will also interact with other groups related to CAR T cell therapy and Cancer Biology within the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and the UCL Cancer Institute. The post is for a Research Associate to manage samples from patients treated on an early phase clinical study of CCR9 CAR T-cell therapy for T-ALL (FRACTALL paeds). This post is funded by GOSH Children’s Charity. The post holder will lead on handling, cryopreservation and characterization of blood and bone marrow samples from patients treated with this novel therapy. They will lead on correlative investigations related to CART persistence and disease response/resistance. They will also be expected to carry out pre-clinical validation of novel CAR T cell constructs for acute leukaemia including in the context of relevant in vivo models. The salary offered on this post is £45,103 - £54,931 per annum (depending on skills and experience) and is funded until 31/08/2028 in the first instance.
A PhD in a subject relevant to cellular immunotherapy, animal licence modules 1-4 are essential. Extensive experience of tissue culture, working with cell lines, retro/lentiviral gene transduction of primary cells are essential. Experience in cellular immunology assays, culture of human and murine cells, molecular cloning, primer design, qPCR, multi-parameter flow cytometry and panel design, experience in flow sorting blood and bone marrow samples, siRNA and CRISPR strategies to reduce expression of key molecules are essential. Being able to manage in vitro and in vivo models of therapy of cancer, and evidence of delivering multiple projects simultaneously are essential. Publication records commensurate with research experience in relevant subject area and supervising BSc, MSc or PhD students are essential. Knowledge of CAR engineering, and a first author scientific publication in an international, peer reviewed journal are desirable.
As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below: • 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days) • Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme • Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE) • Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan • Immigration loan • Relocation scheme for certain posts • On-Site nursery • On-site gym • Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay • Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service • Discounted medical insurance Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.
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/ If you have any queries regarding the application process, please contact [email protected] quoting job reference
