Experimental Scientific Officer

Salary: £35,608 to £37,694 with progression to £46,049 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 05 November 2025

The Role

The role is within the Human Developmental Biology Resource (HDBR; www.hdbr.org), an MRC/Wellcome Trust funded fetal tissue bank enabling medical and scientific research. The role will involve contributing to the consenting of potential donors to the HDBR tissue bank; assisting with the annotation of anatomical structures and mapping gene expression data obtained from early human developmental tissues; and a laboratory-based role performing tasks associated with the normal functioning of the biobank, contributing to gene expression analyses as well as other duties required for the smooth running of the tissue bank. The consenting aspect of the role will take place in a hospital or clinical setting.

The is fixed term post until July 2028 and will require some working out of normal working hours.

The appointment will be made at grade F on the Newcastle University pay scale. For enquiries please contact  steven.lisgo@ncl.ac.uk (Newcastle HDBR Manager) 

Key Accountabilities

Mapping gene expression data

• Identify suitable experimental datasets for submission to the HDBR Atlas 
  gene expression database (www.hdbratlas.org).
•  Identify anatomical structures in tissue sections through developing human 
  tissues showing positive gene expression.
• Add metadata to the HDBR gene expression data portal and submit entries 
  for review by HDBR Atlas editor.
• Prepare data for submission to the Image Data Resource 
  (https://idr.openmicroscopy.org/) 

Anatomical Annotation

• Retrieve images, digitally process and clean images, storing in required 
  format and organisation.
• Mark anatomical landmarks in microscope sections of various stages of early 
  human development for upload to the HDBR eHistology viewer 
  (www.hdbratlas.org/histology.html).
• Manually define anatomical regions in Amira and 3D modelling software for upload to the HDBR Atlas (https://hdbratlas.org/organ-systems.html)

Taking consent from potential tissue bank donors 

• Facilitate the process of obtaining Informed Consent in line with local SOPs 
  and the principles of Good Clinical Practice (GCP) from a cohort of women 
  undergoing termination of pregnancy and document all activity accordingly.
• Provide potential donors with the approved information to enable them to 
  decide if they wish to donate their products of conception to the HDBR tissue 
  bank and answer any queries they may have in regard to this decision.
• Document all research activity in line with local SOPs and communicate 
  effectively and efficiently with the project management team and other 
  multidisciplinary staff involved in the project within the hospitals/clinics, the 
  university and funders

In House Gene Expression Service 

• Plan assigned projects as part of the HDBR’s In House Gene Expression Service (IHGES).
• Conduct immunohistochemistry, tissue in situ hybridisation, or spatial transcriptomics experiments (10X Visium and Xenium) for the IHGES.
• Assist with the interpretation and analysis of the results generated from the IHGES projects.
• Assist in the preparation of reports and manuscripts for publication.
• Communicate results and other complex specialist information to HDBR colleagues and to users of the resource.
• Following suitable training, perform staging and dissections of human embryonic and fetal material. 

Sample processing and Quality control 

• Process and paraffin wax embed tissue samples, archiving and cataloguing 
  for future experimental use
• Section paraffin embedded and frozen tissues for histological preparations.
• Maintain the HDBR digital slide collection and update data entries
• Perform histological stains on a subset of sectioned slides
• Extract nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) from a range of human embryonic and 
  fetal tissues
• Carry out quality control procedures using immunohistochemistry, PCR, DNA 
  and RNA analysis

Other: 

• Liaise with clinical research staff at the donor recruitment centres to ensure 
  efficient tissue transfer from clinic to laboratory on a day-to-day basis.
• Take an active lead in the training and supervision of students in the 
  laboratory and for basic administrative duties.
• Presenting data or training at local group meetings to colleagues and 
  students.
• Maintain stocks of consumables and reagents.
• Carry out any other duties that are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the 
  job as requested by the HDBR Director or Manager.
• Going about duties in a resource efficient way and minimising impacts to the 
  environment wherever possible. 

The Person 
Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

•  Experience of consenting donors to clinical trials or REC approved research 
  studies
• Experience of tissue biobanking
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability communicate effectively orally and in writing
• Knowledge of mammalian embryology/anatomy
• Experience of complex tissue dissections and the manual dexterity, care and 
  attention to detail required for dissection of delicate tissue samples
• Previous experience of histopathological and/or molecular biology techniques
• Knowledge of Human Tissue Act (HTA) regulations
• Well-developed understanding of health and safety regulations and 
  procedures within a laboratory environment
• Experience using databases to catalogue and retrieve data 

Attributes and Behaviour

• A team-worker with a customer-orientated, flexible approach to work
• Ability to manage and prioritise own workload
• Commitment to high quality, interdisciplinary research
• The ability to make decisions under pressure
• Motivated to achieve further training in human embryology and fetal 
  development
• Willingness to work outside normal hours when necessary 

Qualifications

BSc in a life science subject 

Desirable

Post graduate qualification in a relevant subject

 Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 28672