A new ARIA-funded programme is recruiting across five research groups at King’s College London and the University of Bristol, with three roles available in the Department of Chemistry and one role in the Department of Physics at King’s.  

 

The team brings together the Wallace Lab (membrane biophysics and single-molecule imaging, KCL Chemistry), the Photonics and Nanotechnology Research Group (plasmonics and nanomaterials fabrication, KCL Physics), and the Woolfson and Boyle labs (de novo protein design, Bristol)

 

King’s College London is one of the UK’s leading research universities, ranked in the top 40 globally. The Department of Chemistry was ranked 5th in the UK in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, with 98% of research assessed as internationally excellent. The Department of Physics is home to internationally recognised expertise in plasmonics, metamaterials, and optical nanomaterials.

The programme aims to build a new class of programmable 2D materials from designed proteins, with applications in molecular separation and nanophotonic metamaterials. The scientific challenge is to go from angstrom-level molecular precision to large-area functional materials, a transition that has defeated conventional fabrication approaches. Our platform uses multiphase mircrofluidics to direct programmable protein assembly, followed by mineralisation into robust inorganic frameworks. The goal is a manufacturable platform, not a proof of concept, and the programme is structured accordingly.

 

4 PDRA posts are led by Prof Mark Wallace and embedded at King’s, with close day-to-day collaboration with partner groups at Bristol. Please indicate which of the following tracks you are applying to in your supporting statement.

 

Track A: Protein Engineering and Structural Characterisation You will work on the design, expression, and structural validation of de novo proteins, including alpha-helical coiled-coil and barrel systems, for programmable 2D assembly and ion-selective transport.

 

Track B: Membrane Biophysics and Interface Assembly You will develop and control membrane interface platforms for 2D protein assembly and characterise protein behaviour and lattice formation at these interfaces using single-molecule imaging methods. Channel forming proteins will be characterised using vesicle efflux and single-channel recording.

 

Track C: Nanophotonics, Mineralisation and Materials Characterisation You will work on the conversion of ordered protein arrays into inorganic frameworks, characterising structure and optical properties at each stage and developing the deposition methods needed to produce large-area functional materials.

 

These are full-time posts (35 hours per week). Contracts will be offered for 21 months in the first instance. Subject to satisfactory progress at the ARIA milestone review at Month 18, posts are expected to extend to a total of 36 months. Candidates should be aware that continuation beyond 21 months is contingent on this review.