Research Associate in Innovative Biomaterials

The purpose of the post is to engineer biomaterials that interface with the body eliciting desired biological responses and enabling the integration with external devices. The elucidation of the interfaces between materials and biological environments is an extremely important aspect of generating high impact materials-based approaches for healthcare applications. The post-holder will design and fabricate innovative biomaterials to expand our portfolio and will apply spectroscopy and high-resolution microscopy to understand a variety of factors that define the bio-material interaction for example surface modification and topographical cues.

The post-holder will be active within a vibrant, collaborative and multidisciplinary environment comprising multiple projects. This post will liaise closely with researchers trained in a wide array of faculties, including materials science, chemistry, engineering, and biology (with focus areas in drug delivery, tissue engineering and diagnostics). This post is based within Professor Molly Stevens’ group and involve collaborations with other internationally recognised biomaterials and nanomaterials research groups. The Stevens Group has received numerous awards for outstanding biomaterials related research (www.stevensgroup.org) and comprises a diverse and multidisciplinary group of Research Fellows and postgraduate students.

Duties and responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

Research Duties:

• Design, synthesise and fabricate innovative micro/nanostructure materials for drug delivery, regenerative medicine and biosensing applications.
• Use state-of-the-art materials characterisation techniques to analyse cell-material interfaces.
• Establish versatile characterisation protocols that can be translated to a variety of applications.
• Undertake the associated data analysis and interpretation of data.
• To take initiatives in the planning of research
• To direct the work of small research teams
• To identify and develop suitable techniques, and apparatus, for the collection and analysis of data
• To ensure the validity and reliability of data at all times
• To maintain accurate and complete records of all findings
• To write reports for submission to research sponsors
• To present findings to colleagues and at conferences
• To submit publications to refereed journals
• To provide guidance to staff and students

Essential requirements

Candidates/post holders will be expected to demonstrate the following:

• Hold a PhD in Materials Science, Chemistry, Bioengineering or a closely related discipline, or equivalent research, industrial or commercial experience
• Experience in microfabrication strategies (e.g. reactive ion etching, LbL, 3D bioprinting, photolithography, etc.)
• Experience in nanoparticle synthesis and microfabrication strategies (e.g. polymer synthesis, self-assembly)
• Experience in materials structure and biointerface characterisation techniques (e.g. FIB-SEM, SEM and/or AFM, Raman microspectroscopy).
• Experience in a wide range of synthetic skills (e.g. experimental design, wet chemistry, purification, etc.).
• Experience in spectral data analysis (e.g. multivariate analysis)
• Experience of working in a cleanroom
• Experience in cell biology techniques (e.g. cell culture, viability, cytotoxicity, etc.)
• Experience in writing papers focusing on biosensing and diagnostics, including a number of first-authored papers in well-respected journals.

Further information

• Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant within the salary range £38,194 - £41,388 per annum.

Should you require any further details on the role please contact: Prof Molly Stevens, m.stevens@imperial.ac.uk

Guidance may be sought from Darakshan Khan (d.khan@imperial.ac.uk).

Technical issues, please contact: support.jobs@imperial.ac.uk

• Research Associate in Innovative Biomaterials.pdf