Job Description

About us About us Our mission 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.
Please only attach relevant documents to your application (qualifications, cover letters, supporting statements) and avoid attaching large files e.g. research papers, thesis, publications etc.
About the role Successful candidate will work on an exciting translational project which aims to develop GMP-compliant methods for tissue-engineered oesophageal grafts preparation with the longer aim to initiate a first-in-man clinical trial for tissue engineered oesophageal graft transplantation in patients with Long Gap Oesophageal Atresia (LGOA).
Oesophageal atresia (OA) is a rare congenital condition, where instead of normally connecting the gullet to the stomach, the oesophagus ends in a blind-ended pouch, meaning babies cannot feed until the ends are joined surgically. Complex congenital and acquired oesophageal pathologies may require oesophageal substitution to restore anatomical continuity but this is associated with significant morbidity. The aim of our group is to generate functional circumferential tissue-engineered grafts for treatment of LGOA, based on an already established protocol which generated successful grafts tested in a porcine model. This project will create tissue-engineered grafts using techniques closer to GMP-compliance by developing human cells and grafts with GMP-grade reagents and materials, and optimising cell delivery and uniform coverage of the scaffold using automated microinjection.
The successful candidate will join a vibrant and multidisciplinary lab working directly with Professor Paolo De Coppi, Dr Marco Pellegrini, Dr Natalie Durkin, and Professor Simon Eaton, as well as the patient group for LGOA - TOFS, and industry collaborators.
The salary offered in this post is 39,148 - 40,805 per annum and and will be funded for 12 months in the first instance. This position is funded from the GOSHCC/Lifearc Translational Research Accelerator grant. The candidate will be based in Zayed Centre for Research at the UCL GOS Institute of Child Health.
The candidate will be integrated into the research activities of the group as a whole and will be expected to also contribute with their own ideas. Appropriate support and training will be provided, including the training in the use of in-house pipelines.
About you We are looking to appoint an enthusiastic and highly motivated research assistant with knowledge and skills in biomedical engineering and device development.
Excellent organisational and proven problem-solving skills are required. They should be able to communicate their work effectively in writing and oral presentations at internal meetings and conferences.
Candidates must have a Master's degree or equivalent experience in a relevant engineering field applied to biomedical sciences. Proven research aptitude and experience in custom bioreactor design and production is essential.
Knowledge and experience in Quality Control, GMP procedures, and scaffold preparation using decellularization methods/bioreactor technology is desirable. We welcome candidates with experience of working in translational biomedical sciences and exposure to working with regulatory bodies. Experience and interest in working with patient groups is also desirable.
What we offer 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
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 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/
Available documents

Skills Required