Postdoctoral Fellow - Moris Lab

The Francis Crick Institute

Location: Kings Cross London

Contract: This is a full-time, four-year position on Crick terms and conditions of employment.

Short summary

Much remains to be discovered about the molecular basis of human embryonic development, especially regarding the emergence of the body plan. Research in the Developmental Models laboratory aims to uncover the principles of human development using cutting-edge in vitro model systems, including stem cell-based embryo models (SCBEMs). Our findings aim to unravel principles of embryogenesis, including the co-development of tissues and organ primordia.

The Project

The postholder will use the recently described human Trunk-like Structures (hTLS; Makwana et al., 2025 Nature Cell Biology) to explore the biology of myogenesis in vitro, including how interactions between neighbouring cell types (such as neurons and endothelium) contribute to its maturation. Bioengineering approaches will be used to explore prolonging culture, and benchmarking between in vitro models and in vivo mouse embryos will allow us to uncover shared regulatory principles for deeper insight into emergence of the body plan.

Applicants should have a strong background in developmental biology, stem cell biology, muscle biology or related fields.

Key Responsibilities

You will:

• Developing project ideas and proposing hypotheses and further research directions
• Designing and leading a high-quality experimental programme of work
• Carrying out a range of experimental protocols, including tissue culture of human pluripotent stem cells, embryo model generation, imaging, molecular characterisation etc.
• Fully analysing data
• Assisting with laboratory duties, including supporting other early career researchers
• Keeping accurate and reproducible records of experiments
• Presenting at laboratory meetings and/or interest groups
• Reporting findings through local and international presentations and manuscript preparation

About you

You will have:

• PhD in biology, or similar*
• Good background in developmental biology and understanding of the field
• Experience in leading your own research project
• Experience of human pluripotent stem cell culture (hPSCs)*
• Track record of writing papers as evidenced by publications or manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals*
• Ability to work both independently and within a group
• Mouse embryo work, bioinformatic analysis and imaging of 3D embryos/organoids (Desirable)

*Minimum Criteria

About us

The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical discovery institute dedicated to understanding the fundamental biology underlying health and disease. Its work is helping to understand why disease develops and to translate discoveries into new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, infections, and neurodegenerative diseases.

An independent organisation, its founding partners are the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL, Imperial College London and King’s College London.

The Crick was formed in 2015, and in 2016 it moved into a new state-of-the-art building in central London which brings together 1500 scientists and support staff working collaboratively across disciplines, making it the biggest biomedical research facility under in one building in Europe.

The Francis Crick Institute will be world-class with a strong national role. Its distinctive vision for excellence includes commitments to collaboration; developing emerging talent and exporting it to the rest of the UK; public engagement; and helping turn discoveries into treatments as quickly as possible to improve lives and strengthen the economy.

To apply for this role, please click on the 'Apply' button above.