"Research Assistant/Associate/Fellow - UKRI Engineering Biology Mission (Fixed-Term)"

Research Assistant/Associate/Fellow - UKRI Engineering Biology Mission (Fixed-Term)

University of Nottingham

Location: Nottingham Salary: £31,387 to £38,784 per annum, depending on skills and experience (minimum £35,608 with relevant PhD). Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance. Hours: Full Time Contract Type: Fixed-Term/Contract Placed On: 20th January 2026

Closes: 2nd February 2026

Job Ref: SCI846226

An opportunity has arisen for a Research Assistant/Associate/Fellow funded by the UKRI to join our team based at the Biodiscovery Institute and support the principal investigator Professor Neil Thomas. Working in collaboration with teams from the School of Chemistry, the School of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Engineering. Our goal is to apply engineering biology techniques to an apoferritin nanocage to improve its abilities to function as a targeted drug delivery platform and to explore the encapsulation and delivery of some novel therapeutic cargo.

We are looking for a highly motivated Research Associate to drive the research forward. You will lead and deliver the technical development of encapsulating a novel therapeutic inside a protein-based drug delivery platform and the expression and mutagenesis of that platform using a range of techniques including protein engineering, synthetic and analytical chemistry, mammalian cell culture, and nano material characterisation.

Where appropriate, we will support you to create and submit innovative research development proposals and funding bids.

The successful candidate will have significant prior experience of:

• Knowledge of protein structure and engineering.
• Experience of recombinant protein synthesis and purification.
• Experience of undertaking nanomaterial characterisation.
• Experience of in vitro mammalian cell culture.
• Experience of synthetic organic chemistry including solid-phase synthesis.
• Must hold a PhD, or be near to submission of a PhD, in a relevant subject area.

You will be a self-starter, exceptionally well-organised and have a positive attitude. Working with academics, researchers and PhD students in managing and conducting research activities across the programme, you should have experience of working collaboratively on projects with a wide range of stakeholders internally and externally, sometimes on challenging and complex multidisciplinary issues. The research will be conducted in the Biodiscovery Institute, a modern multidisciplinary research complex with state of the art facilities for Engineering Biology.

This is a fixed term, full time post, funded until the 31/03/2027.

Informal enquiries only may be addressed to neil.thomas@nottingham.ac.uk. Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted.