Research Fellow Department of Inflammation and Ageing 106759 Grade 7

Position Details

Department of Inflammation and Ageing School of Infection Inflammation and Immunology College of Medicine and Health

Location: University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range 36636 to 46049 with potential progression once in post to 48822

Grade: 7

Full Time Fixed Term contract up to June 2026

Closing date: 4th January 2026

Background

This is a request to recruit a 1.0 FTE Research Fellow funded by National Institutes of Health USA. Analysing the genetic basis of periorbital microbiomes. The post holder will join the Academic Unit of Ophthalmology (AUO) research group at the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing University of Birmingham as a full-time Research Fellow to provide support for various on-going projects based around inflammatory and immune mechanisms in the ocular microenvironment.

To assist medical research by carrying out sample processing laboratory analyses and data collection thereby providing research support for a series of ophthalmology projects. These include phenotyping the healthy and diseased ocular surface microbiome rapid diagnosis of severe blinding ocular infections genetic profiling of the ocular surface and monitoring response to novel technologies in early-phase clinical trials.

Main Duties

The responsibilities may include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

• Work within specified research grants and projects and contribute to writing bids
• Operate within area of specialism
• Analyse and interpret research findings and results
• Contribute to generating funding
• Contribute to licensing or spin out deals with demonstrated commercial success (such as revenues asset or company sales IP generated) and/or public understanding of the discipline or similar
• The post holder will work closely with the I-ACT clinical trials team and investigators
• The post holder will also work with our collaborators within Birmingham and internationally

Research Project Responsibilities

• Perform -omic processing of human bio samples extracted from swabs tears blood faeces urine using nano string nCounter RNA expression ocular surface mucosa and gut microbial communities at strain/genomic level Luminex cytokine analyses
• Undertake a combination of computational and experimental approaches to study microbiota and RNA signalling across a human time-course interventional study
• Perform bioinformatics analyses and test different ecological processes that govern microbiota community assembly and resilience
• Flexibility and adaptability to working cross-sites UoBRL (BMEC and QEHB)
• To carry out analyses critical evaluations and interpretations using methodologies and other techniques appropriate to the area of research
• Contribute to developing new models techniques and methods to answer the research questions
• Ability to work independently within the context of a research team and to contribute to the planning and organising of the research programme and/or specific research project
• Develop and implement biobanking tissue tracking processes compliant with relevant legislation (such as the Human Tissue Act NRES approvals and General Data Protection Regulations) and maintain an awareness of any relevant regulatory issues
• Develop and implement data collection and input from multiples sites including sample/patient records clinical databases and consent forms
• Responsibility for planning and organising the day to day running of the ORRBit to ensure that sample and data collection and processing goals are delivered according to an agreed timetable
• Responsibility for problem-solving and making independent decisions relating to the day to day running of the ORRBit with the support of the Ophthalmology Research Group when required
• Coordinate and implement any audits or NHS NRES or funding applications relating to ORRBit activities
• Flexibility with working hours to accommodate sample collections and meetings with international partners and collaborators
• Providing technical input into future tissue processing and experimental design and advising on application of specialist techniques and equipment to other staff and students
• Liaising effectively and pro-actively maintaining contacts with colleagues across different academic and clinical laboratories and units within the institute and ensure that information is acquired and stored appropriately
• Contributing to the safe and well organised functioning of the laboratory
• Responsibility for planning and management of resources preparing project plans ensuring good progress of work and keeping detailed records
• Willingness to prepare collate and present data to stake-holders such as annual reports for the Management Committee and funding bodies and public engagement activities including via a web-presence
• Provide feedback to the Management Committee on service usage stock utilisation and to discuss progress and future plans
• Willingness to identify and be trained in new laboratory techniques

General Research Responsibilities

The responsibilities may include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research with assistance of amentor if required
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Analyse and interpret data
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
• Disseminate research findings for publication research seminars etc
• Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline
• Contribute to developing new models techniques and methods
• Undertake management/administration arising from research
• Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration
• Contribute to enterprise business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University often under supervision of a project leader
• Collect research data; this may be through a variety of research methods such as scientific experimentation literature reviews and research interviews
• Present research outputs including drafting academic publications or parts thereof for example at seminars and as posters
• Provide guidance as required to support staff and any students who may be assisting with the research
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusiveworking culture
• Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines

Person Specification

• Have a PhD or equivalent qualification in bioinformatics molecular biology neurobiology cell biology immunology or a closely related area of biomedicine
• Must have 1 years experience in a responsible role after obtaining PhD degree
• Experience of ocular disease and immunology
• High level analytical capability including bioinformatics
• Experience in capture computation analysis and interpretation of biological data
• Experience of routine histopathological techniques including immunohistochemistry and molecular biology techniques including mammalian cell culture RNA and DNA extraction
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Fluency in relevant models techniques or methods and ability to contribute to developing new ones
• Willingness to learn and apply new scientific techniques
• Ability to access and organise resources successfully
• Proficiency in commonly used software packages and experience of data analysis using statistical software
• Ability to organise and manage own workload and demonstrate flexibility in terms of work practices/requirements
• Ability to work independently but function as part of a team
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes
• Contribute to the planning organising and managing programme of work and/or specific research project
• Co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort
• Knowledge and experience relevant regulatory frameworks: Human Tissue Act (HTA) Health Research Authority Research (HRA) ethics Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) Quality Management Systems (QMS) for establishing Good Clinical Practice in the Laboratory (GCPL) working practices
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010 and how to actively ensure in day-to-day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly

You may also have:

• Experience working in a research biorepository
• Evidence of successful completion of the NIHR Learn Good Clinical Practice online training and/or relevant e-learning modules on theHealth Research Authoritys learning management platform
• Experience of liaising with health professionals and all members of the multidisciplinary team across various levels
• Evidence of successful completion of the MRC e-learning: Research and Human Tissue legislation e-learning package
• Experience with Pro-Curo or equivalent system for sample management
• Knowledge of how to obtain informed consent

Further particulars can be foundhere

Informal enquiries to Lisa Powell email:

Use of AI in applications:We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

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