REACT Postdoctoral Research Associate (Genetic Switches for Cardiovascular Diseases)
Salary: £41,064 - £48,822
Full Time: 35 hrs per week
Contract: Fixed Term 24 months
Job Description
We are looking to employ a postdoctoral researcher on a 24 month contract to join the research group of Professor Susan Rosser, chair of synthetic biology at the University of Edinburgh Centre for Engineering Biology to work on developing gene switches for use in cardio vascular gene therapy.
The selected researcher will join an internationally recognised, friendly, diverse, inclusive and enthusiastic team. It is in collaboration with Prof. Brian Bigger, chair of advanced therapeutic and is an excellent opportunity to work at the crossroads of Engineering Biology (Rosser lab) and translational gene therapy (Bigger lab), and generating pioneering research with expected tangible impact for patients suffering from cardiac diseases.
You will become part of the REACT consortium whose mission is to regenerate injured hearts and reverse established damage with genetic medicines. It is a 14-year funded £50M MRC/BHF centre of research of excellence led by King’s College London and co-directed by the University of Edinburgh and Oxford.
As part of this role, you will use an engineering biology-based approach to develop, test and optimise drug-induced controllable genetic switches for use in clinical AAV vectors. We aim to create a control system that is specific, tuneable and with minimal side effects. This will let us iteratively refine these switches to reliably turn therapeutic genes on and off for cardiovascular treatment.
Your work will also closely align to the Engineering Biology for Advanced Therapeutics Hub. The hub, Directed by Prof Rosser, is a £14M 5-year UKRI sponsored research program across 4 institutions (Edinburgh, Oxford, Imperial, CRUK SI) pioneering engineering biology for advanced therapeutics. It is developing novel genetic tools to render gene therapies safe and effective, with initial focus on oncology, cardiovascular diseases and rare diseases.
The post holder will have many opportunities for multidisciplinary collaborative working with academic colleagues from the different institutional partners and industry partners. This includes training and professional development opportunities arising from being embedded and working with communities of translational scientists.
This post offers an excellent opportunity for academic career advancement in a world‑renowned centre of excellence for synthetic/engineering biology. The University of Edinburgh hosts a large diverse, dynamic and multidisciplinary engineering biology community of more than 50 research groups. The University of Edinburgh’s synthetic biology facilities are second‑to‑none, and include the Edinburgh Genome Foundry and Edinomics.
Your Skills And Attributes For Success
* PhD (or completion within 3 months) in engineering biology or related subject with synthetic/engineering biology experience
* Experience in engineering biology, RNA biology and molecular biology.
* Experience of mammalian Cell Engineering.
* Excellent written and verbal communication skills with ability to build rapport with colleagues and collaborators.
Application Information
Please include the following documents in your application:
* CV
* Cover letter
Enquiries: Susan.Rosser@ed.ac.uk
Benefits
* A competitive salary
* An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.
* To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community
* Comprehensive Staff Benefits, such as a generous holiday entitlement, competitive pension schemes, staff discounts, and family‑friendly initiatives. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page and use our reward calculator to discover the total value of your pay and benefits.
Championing equality, diversity and inclusion
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages. The University may be able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. This will depend on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant.
Key dates
The closing date for applications is 19 December 2025. Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.
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