Research Associate, Transformation Facility - Plant Biology Institute

Join us at EIT:

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we're on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity's greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

Welcome to the Plant Biology Institute:

The Plant Biology Institute, headed by Professor Steve Kelly, is a key part of the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) Oxford. The institute aims to develop impactful and commercially sustainable solutions for improving global food production and planetary health through pioneering plant science research.

Your Role:

At EIT we are seeking a highly motivated and skilled Research Associate in the Crop Transformation Pipeline team at the pioneering Plant Biology Institute. The Research Associate will support high-throughput transformation execution, ensuring consistent delivery of edited or transgenic plants across target crops.

Your Responsibilities:

• Conduct transformation, tissue culture, regeneration, and plant recovery workflows.
• Maintain culture health, media preparation, and sterile technique standards.
• Track experiments using LIMS and digital systems.
• Assist in optimisation trials and troubleshooting experiments.
• Support scaling initiatives and throughput acceleration.
• Maintain detailed lab documentation and inventory.
• Train and mentor Technicians.
• Standardise SOPs and ensure rigorous documentation following GLP & QMS.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to incorporate cutting edge applied technologies to develop commercial products.
• Present scientific work at seminars within the team and at external meetings.
• Assist in training and mentoring technicians in various transformation and tissue culture skill sets.
• Collaborate with experts at the forefront of research on AI, automation, and generative biology across the EIT ecosystem.
• Assist in the translation of scientific results into publications, commercial opportunities consistent with the EIT humane endeavors.
• Recognise the acting on opportunities for the creation of IP and cooperating in patent protection and in impact delivery.

Requirements

Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:

• Master's or Bachelor's degree with substantial hands‑on expertise in plant tissue culture and transformation.
• Experience with structured experimental planning, tracking, monitoring and reporting.
• Proven troubleshooting and optimisation skills in tissue culture.
• Ability to build both internal and external relationships.
• Clear and demonstrable problem-solving skills.
• Excellent problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Excellent written communication and report writing skills.

Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Experience in multiple crop transformation.
• Experience with GLP & Quality management system.
• Experience in DOE, statistical analysis.