The KCL School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences and it’s Department of Infectious Diseases are internationally recognised for the broad spectrum of approaches they use to understand infectious diseases and improve health and well-being. The School and Department host world leaders in immunology, pathogen molecular biology, and host-pathogen interactions, encompassing a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and experience. The Department is based at the Guy’s campus, enabling strong connections with clinical units at the adjacent Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Trust. At Guy’s campus, KCL has a fully managed zebrafish, microscopy, and molecular biology facilities, which will be used in the project.

Shigella is an important human pathogen and antimicrobial resistance priority threat. We have recently determined that Shigella sonnei can establish persistent infections that are not completely cleared by the host immune system or antibiotic treatments.

 

We seek a Postdoctoral Research Associate to develop an innovative research project that will characterise what host and pathogen factors control Shigella persistent infections and the links of this phenotype to antibiotic tolerance. The candidate will combine molecular and cellular biology techniques, transcriptomics, microbial genomics, and imaging (see for example Torraca et al., 2019; Torraca et al., 2023) in their project.

 

The research will focus on studying Shigella sonnei infection in vivo using the zebrafish model. The candidate will also contribute to the training of undergraduate and postgraduate students. The successful candidate will also be supported to apply for additional postdoctoral fellowships to possibly extend their post.

 

We are seeking a candidate that has obtained (or will obtain soon) a PhD in a relevant subject (i.e., microbiology, and/or immunology, molecular biology, cell biology). Experience with bacterial pathogens, ‘omics’ sciences (i.e., transcriptomics, microbial genomics) is essential for this post. The ideal candidate should also have strong molecular biology and imaging background.  Experience with the zebrafish model is desirable but not essential.

 

With your application, please also submit your CV (up to 3 pages), highlighting previous work experience, education, publication, presentation records and any other records that you consider relevant for the application. Please also submit a structured cover letter where you highlight your motivation to apply for this post. This letter should also have clearly highlighted subheadings for each essential and desirable criteria, where you should specify/provide details on how each of the criterion is met (up to 3 pages).

 

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 05 February 2028.  Due to the requirements of this role, it is not suitable for remote working.

 

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the  Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the  Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.