Team Science:
The MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) is proud to launch its new Team Science initiative, marking a bold step toward a more collaborative, challenge-driven model of research.
Scientific breakthroughs are often portrayed as the work of lone geniuses, but in reality, they are usually the result of collective effort. A Team Science project is not just bigger or multi-part, it's fundamentally different in its ethos and operational model. It's designed to foster true collaboration across disciplines, academic institutions, industry and the public, creating something that could not be achieved alone. It's about collective ambition, shared infrastructure and interdisciplinary innovation.
This new approach places collaboration and real-world impact at its core, integrating insights from across the LMS' existing expertise and diverse perspectives.
Overall purpose:
A new exciting opportunity has arisen for a 3 Year Postdoctoral Research Scientist to join the Reproductive Health and Fertility: Ageing, Sex and the Environment Team science project led by J Vaquerizas, E Martinez-Perez, and P Hajkova. Reproductive health is an important aspect of human wellbeing, yet infertility affects approximately one in six people globally. Despite its prevalence and significant emotional, societal and economic impact, the biological mechanisms underlying infertility and reproductive ageing remain poorly understood. We have put together a team of internationally-leading experts in germline biology and genome function that will use transdisciplinary experimental approaches to understand how intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence female and male fertility and reproductive ageing.
We are looking for a talented and self-motivated computational biologist with an interest in reproductive biology and genome function to join the Reproductive Health and Fertility: Ageing, Sex and the Environment Team science initiative as a postdoctoral researcher. The main goal of the project will be to analyse and integrate multimodal genome-wide datasets to build predictive models of healthy reproductive processes and investigate how these are perturbed in infertility and ageing. The candidate will work closely with other postdocs and students in the Team who will use omics and imaging approaches to elucidate the genetic and molecular causes of infertility, the impact of aging in male and female fertility, and the effect of metabolism and germline-soma crosstalk on fertility.
Main duties / key responsibilities:
* Design, plan, and conduct high-quality, independent research aligned with the project aims
* Critically analyse, interpret, and present experimental data with scientific rigor and reproducibility
* Stay current with relevant scientific literature and integrate new findings and methodologies into ongoing research
* Collaborate effectively with internal lab and Team members and external partners, including participation in interdisciplinary projects
* Provide training and advice for other group members including PhD students
* Write-up and publish results in high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific journals
* Take an active part in the academic activities of the LMS
* Attend and contribute to lab meetings, journal clubs and seminar presentations
* Present data at national and international meetings (where and when appropriate)
* Form good working relationships with other members of the group as well as internal and external collaborators