"Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Assay Development Scientist)"

University of Exeter - Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

We will be reviewing applications as they come in, so please don’t hesitate in applying, as we reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications.

The above full-time post is available immediately on a fixed term basis for 2 years in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.

The Post

The MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MRC CMM) seeks an experienced assay development scientist to join a recently funded 5-year programme of antifungal drug discovery at the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology. This exciting new programme connects MRC CMM researchers with drug discovery experts and scientists from the Dundee Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) (www.drugdiscovery.dundee.ac.uk) and GSK Global Health Medicines R&D to facilitate the discovery and development of new drugs for invasive fungal diseases. Together, the MRC CMM, DDU and GSK GHM form a dynamic and multidisciplinary group that covers all aspects of drug discovery up to candidate selection.

This role has two key aspects. In the first instance, our goal is to develop new primary phenotypic screening assays for drugs exhibiting fungicidal activity against the multidrug resistant human fungal pathogen Candida auris, as well as the development and implementation of solutions at CMM for scale up and automation of screening. Secondly, to develop a panel of new secondary phenotypic screening assays, to improve our understanding of the relationship between in vitro observations and in vivo drug efficacy. Areas of interest are: development of live-cell imaging assays for understanding the intracellular stage of fungal interactions with host cells, adhesion and biofilm formation, tolerance of in-host stress, time-kill and resistance emergence. Longer-term aims will shift to undertake cross-profiling of hit and lead compounds against a panel of human fungal pathogens in preparation for full drug discovery programmes.

The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate: extensive experience in the development and implementation of medium to high throughput automated workflows for the discovery of antimicrobial drugs; planning and management of discovery team activities according to strict time-scales; industry-standard ways of working including practical experience of GLP implementation (extending to electronic record-keeping, and auditable processes for data acquisition, analysis and curation).

Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification for full details of this role.

The University of Exeter

We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 200 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 and QS World University Ranking 2024). We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, achieving a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2023, underpinned by Gold ratings for Student Experience and Student Outcomes.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

We are committed to ensuring reasonable adjustments are available for interviews and workplaces.

Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented within our working community.

Further information

Before submitting an application you may wish to discuss the post further by contacting Elaine Bignell, Co-Director (Research) MRC Centre for Medical Mycology, e.bignell@exeter.ac.uk.