"Post Doctoral Research Associate"

About Us

The Atherton lab (King’s College London) is seeking an enthusiastic post-doctoral researcher to decipher how a set of actin-binding proteins remodels the eukaryotic cytoskeleton, including during cancer and viral pathogenic processes. The Atherton group is based in Randall Centre for Cell & Molecular Biophysics, home to a diverse array of structural and cellular biology research, which is part of the School of Basic & Biomedical Sciences. We sit in the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, which has a broad spectrum of research interests spanning fundamental biology, disease, and physiology. We are based at the Guy’s Campus of King’s College London situated in the heart of London. King’s is a founding member of the prestigious Russell Group of world-class, research-intensive universities.

About the role

Filamentous actin (F-actin) dynamically adopts various higher-order architectures to perform defined sub-cellular functions. A host of actin-binding proteins (ABPs) modulate the growth and stability of individual filaments or organise multiple filaments into various bundled and branched networks. This role will focus on a family of actin-binding proteins that regulates the actin cytoskeleton and links it to other intracellular components in the molecular processes underlying neuronal development and synaptic plasticity, cell-cell interactions, viral infection and cancer invasion.

The core techniques used will be single-particle cryo-EM and in situ cryo-electron tomography, with support from classical cell biology, molecular biophysics, biochemistry and molecular biology methodologies.

The cryo-EM research group at KCL is fast-growing and the university are investing heavily in the technique. We have access to excellent cryo-EM facilities, including an on-site autoloading JEOL cryoARM200 + K3 direct electron detector and a state-of-the-art Titan Krios electron microscope and FIBSEM equipment at nearby London sites.

The successful applicant should have a demonstrable passion for revealing fundamental molecular mechanisms and hold significant experience in protein expression/purification, structural biology and cell culture. Experience in cryo-EM is essential and experience in in situ cryo-ET, fluorescence microscopy and an understanding of cytoskeletal biology and/or neurobiology would be advantageous.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract starting no sooner than 2nd February 2026 and ending 1st February 2030.

It is a laboratory-based role and as such it needs to be performed on site for roughly 80% of the time, but there will be opportunities to work remotely for roughly 20% of the time, for example when processing data or preparing manuscripts and presentations.