Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges.
We are recruiting an Advanced Research Assistant for a 2 year fixed term contract to join our Human Genetics Programme.
About the Role:
This is an exciting opportunity to join a multidisciplinary project applying single cell genomics to cells isolated from patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or healthy individuals. The goal of the project Open-IBD is to provide a deep muti-omic characterisation of early stage IBD in a large cohort of 1000 newly diagnosed patients to nominate causal factors driving IBD pathology and identify biomarkers of long- term outcomes in IBD, including disease progression and drug response. This project is overseen by Open Targets, Open Targets is a public-private partnership involving the Wellcome Sanger Institute, a world-leading genomics institution, EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), a global leader in the management, integration and analysis of public domain life science data, and world-leading pharmaceutical companies GSK, Sanofi, MSD, Pfizer, and Genentech.
About Us:
The Open Targets (OT) research programme generates and analyses data to connect targets to diseases, assess the strength of this evidence, and help identify and prioritise targets for drug discovery. This includes evidence that causally links targets and diseases, as well as foundational data that helps us understand biological processes and disease progression more deeply.
About you:
You will be based at the WSI, within the laboratory of Dr. Carl Anderson and will work closely on this project with Dr. Cristina Cotobal Martin (Senior Staff Scientist), with scientific input from collaborators. This is a laboratory-based role where you will liaise with clinical teams around UK on the acquistion of human tissue/blood samples and assist with processing these for single cell omics assays. Training for SOPs will be provided but experience in handing human tissue and isolation of PBMCs and plasma from human blood samples is necessary.
Experience in working with large scale data and maintain accurate records would be required.. Additionally, experience on high throughput assays and handling robotics and automation on experimental setting would be advantageous. You will be part of an active interdisciplinary team of laboratory and computational scientists and be expected to advise and support the computational analysts regarding experimental processes.
Essential Skills:
* Masters or equivalent qualification in Biological Sciences or equivalent experience
* Good experience in handling human tissue and blood and mammalian cells (tissue dissociation and/or culture).
* Experience of core molecular biology techniques e.g. PCR, RT-PCR.
* Strict adherence to SOPs and attention to detail when performing routine tasks.
* Thorough record keeping, with strong organisational and communication skills, and good work ethic.
* A team player who enjoys working with others in a friendly and collegiate manner.
* Ability to build collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
Competencies and Behaviours
* Thorough record keeping, with strong organisational and communication skills, and good work ethic.
* A team player who enjoys working with others in a friendly and collegiate manner and able to recognise when to seek help.
* Ability to build collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
Other information
Salary per annum (dependent upon skills and experience): £32,691-£38,838
Application Process:
Please apply with your CV and a cover letter outlining your suitability for the role, addressing the criteria set out above.
Closing Date: 25th June 2025
Hybrid Working at Wellcome Sanger:
We recognise that there are many benefits to Hybrid Working; including an improved work-life balance, with more focused time, as well as the ability to organise working time so that collaborative opportunities and team discussions are facilitated on campus. The hybrid working arrangement will vary for different roles and teams. The nature of your role and the type of work you do will determine if a hybrid working arrangement is possible.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:
We aim to attract, recruit, retain and develop talent from the widest possible talent pool, thereby gaining insight and access to different markets to generate a greater impact on the world. We have a supportive culture with the following staff networks, LGBTQ+, Parents and Carers, Disability and Race Equity to bring people together to share experiences, offer specific support and development opportunities and raise awareness. The networks are also a place for allies to provide support to others.
We want our people to be whoever they want to be because we believe people who bring their best selves to work, do their best work. That's why we're committed to creating a truly inclusive culture at Sanger Institute. We will consider all individuals without discrimination and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, where everyone can thrive.
Our Benefits:
We are proud to deliver an awarding campus-wide employee wellbeing strategy and programme. The importance of good health and adopting a healthier lifestyle and the commitment to reduce work-related stress is strongly acknowledged and recognised at Sanger Institute.
Sanger Institute became a signatory of the International Technician Commitment initiative In March 2018. The Technician Commitment aims to empower and ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines.