Ref Number
B02-10740
Professional Expertise
Research and Research Support
Department
School of Life & Medical Sciences (B02)
Location
London
Working Pattern
Full time
Salary
£43,981-£52,586
Contract Type
Fixed-term
Working Type
On site
Available for Secondment
No
Closing Date
19-Jun-2026
UCL is one of the UK’s premier research and teaching Universities (www.ucl.ac.uk) and has one of the largest Biomedical Faculties in Europe. UCL is both a Cancer Research UK Centre and an Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre providing key infrastructure for cancer research. The UCL Cancer Institute is a £40 million investment in central London based at University College London (UCL), one of the world’s top universities and a founding member of the Crick Institute. UCL Cancer Institute draws together over 300 scientists working together to develop world-class basic and translational cancer research. Through our associations with UCL Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the Institute has greater clinical links than any comparable centre in the UK and a significant impact on the delivery of clinical service to cancer patients. This concentration of excellence, access to patients and significant recent investment of cancer treatment and research infrastructure makes UCL a global leader.
Dr Nnenna Kanu is the Chief Scientific Officer of the Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer centre of Excellence. The Kanu Lab is a multi-disciplinary group of passionate and determined individuals who will provide the successful candidate with a stimulating and conducive environment to participate and grow as a scientist. The research in the lab is conducted in close collaboration with local and international scientists and clinicians, especially across the TRACERx and PEACE consortia and the CRUK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence. These collaborative environments will provide the successful candidate with opportunities to learn from a large network of talented professionals.
Prof. Mariam Jamal-Hanjani is Principal Investigator of the TRACERx study at UCL, and Chief Investigator of the PEACE study. The Jamal-Hanjani Lab is a multi-disciplinary group of passionate and determined individuals who will provide the successful candidate with a stimulating and conducive environment to participate and grow as a scientist. The research in the lab is conducted in close collaboration with local and international scientists and clinicians, especially across the TRACERx and PEACE consortia and the CRUK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence. These collaborative environments will provide the successful candidate with opportunities to learn from a large network of talented professionals.
We are seeking a collaborative and self-motivated bioinformatician post-doctoral fellow to work on extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) in a vibrant and highly collegiate environment. ecDNA are circular genomic structures that can drive ultra-high copy number amplification and correlate with poor clinical outcomes, yet their evolution, detection, and targeting remain largely unclear. This project aims to analyse ecDNA evolution over time using single-cell RNA/ATAC sequencing and to develop a ctDNA-based approach for detecting and monitoring ecDNA to support biomarker and treatment development. The project will leverage existing whole genome sequencing data from multi-region matched primary and metastatic tumours from the TRACERx lung cancer evolution and PEACE research autopsy programmes and will be part of the eDyNAmiC Cancer Grand Challenge.
TRACERx is a UK-wide lung cancer evolution programme which started in 2014 and has to date recruited over 820 patients. It is the first longitudinal cancer genomics study that forms the first national UK consortium focused on deciphering cancer evolution over space and time. TRACERx involves multi-region sequence analyses of lung cancers (5000+ exomes and whole genomes in over 800 patients) from pre-invasive through to primary and metastatic disease setting, in order to understand cancer evolutionary life histories with detailed clinical annotation. The co-primary end points of the study are to investigate the relationship between intratumour heterogeneity and clinical outcomes, and to determine the impact of cancer therapies on intratumour heterogeneity. TRACERx has enabled additional analyses in the areas of immunology, circulating biomarkers, cancer cachexia and body composition, radiomics and tumour microenvironment. Future plans include tumour metabolic imaging and mass spectrometry metabolomics. TRACERx is supported by the excellent bioinformatics facilities already available in our Centre together with substantial investment in bioinformatics staff, data storage and computer processing power. TRACERx has been highly successful, as of 2023 sequencing data from more than 400 patients have been fully analysed resulting in a flow of high-impact publications, including manuscripts in Nature, Cell, Science and New England Journal of Medicine.
PEACE is a pan cancer national research autopsy programme in which post-mortem sampling allows access to tissue from all sites of metastasis, and to date has recruited over 390 patients and performed over 240 autopsies. PEACE aims to investigate the biological processes underpinning metastatic disease, including genomic and metabolic drivers of tumour dissemination, and failure of the adaptive immune system. The combination of both TRACERx and PEACE with patient co-recruitment has established an unprecedented resource of multi-regional matched primary and metastatic tissue, and therefore facilitates tissue- and blood-based analyses from diagnosis to death. This is the first national autopsy programme at such scale with a consortium of high calibre scientists and clinicians focussed on various projects relevant to metastasis and drug resistance.
eDyNAmiC is an international team of scientists with close collaborations tackling the challenges posed by extrachromosomal DNA in cancer. Supported by Cancer Grand Challenges, a global initiative addressing key issues in cancer research, it is funded by CRUK and the NIH (https://www.cancergrandchallenges.org/edynamic). The team focuses on understanding ecDNA biology and developing new strategies to target its mechanisms in cancer.
Please note that to ensure an efficient recruitment process, we do not reconsider previously unsuccessful applicants unless there has been a substantial change in their experience or qualifications.
The position is fixed term for 2 years.
The successful applicant should have a proven track record of publications, have previous experience with genomics data analysis, be fluent in at least one of the following programming languages: C++, Python or R, and will have strong skills in the field of genomics and desirably one or more of the following: tumour biology, ctDNA/ blood-based biomarkers, evolutionary biology, statistics and mathematics.
Appointment at Grade 7 is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD; if this is not the case, initial appointment will be at Research Assistant Grade 6B, with payment at Grade 7 being backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD thesis.
Applications should include a CV and a Cover Letter: In the Cover Letter please provide evidence of the essential and desirable criteria in the Person Specification part of the Job Description. (By including a Cover Letter, you can leave blank the 'Why you have applied for this role' field in the application form, which is limited in the number of characters it will allow.)
As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:
- 41 Days holiday (including 27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
- Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
- Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
- On-Site nursery
- On-site gym
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
- Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
- Discounted medical insurance
Please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/rewards-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/
