"Postdoctoral Neuroscientist"

Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (NDCN), John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, OX3 9DU

Reporting to Profs Annina Schmid and David Bennett. The post holder is a member of the Neural Injury Group and the Neuromusculoskeletal Health and Science Lab with responsibility for contributing to a multi-lab MRC-funded research project aiming to develop advance humanised pain models. This role is part of a multi-disciplinary team including expertise in cell culturing, electrophysiology, and bioinformatics. The role will be responsible for developing and characterising human dorsal root ganglia cultures to benchmark the newly developed iPSC derived organoid model systems. This will include processing of human DRG and nerve roots with subsequent cellular and molecular analyses looking at alterations in injured vs non-injured neural tissues using physiological, molecular and anatomical outcomes. The post-holder will also optimise human DRG cultures and perform electrophysiological and functional characterisation. In parallel, the post holder will use the newly developed human induced pluripotent stem-cell derived sensory neurons pain models to characterise their validity as well as in-vitro excitability including after inducing experimental nerve injury and pharmacological interventions, and relate these to the individual’s clinical phenotypes (already available). The post holder provides guidance to less experienced members of the research group, including postdocs, research assistants, technicians, and PhD and project students.

The research activities will take place in the state of the art facilities provided by NDCN including access to wet lab space, cell culture and advanced imaging. The Neural Injury Group consists of a multidisciplinary team with expertise ranging from molecular neurobiology to clinical phenotyping. The post is primarily based in NDCN, but there will be meetings and collaborative opportunities as this is a network grant including external collaborators.

Please see the below 'Job Description' for further details on the responsibilities and selection criteria, as well as further information about the university and how to apply.

The post is full time for a fixed term until 9th November 2029 in the first instance.

Only applications received before 12.00 midday on Wednesday 11th March will be considered.

Interviews will be held as soon as possible thereafter.

Pay Scale: RESEARCH GRADE 7

Salary: £39,424 – £47,779 per annum

Vacancy ID: 185132