Research Assistant/Associate

Salary:  

Research Assistant: £33,002 to £34,610 per annum

Research Associate: £35,608 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: 29 August 2025

The Role

Based in the Wolfson Childhood Cancer Research Centre, a Research Associate position is available to support the research activities of the INSTINCT-MB.

Medulloblastoma is one of the leading causes of childhood cancer death. You will work on the INSTINCT-MB programme, which brings together teams based at Newcastle University, The Institute of Cancer Research and University College London.   The programme will generate a wide range of contemporary high-resolution next-generation sequencing and array-based genomic and epigenomic datasets across large cohorts of human tumours and experimental models, alongside complex drug screening, efficacy and clinical phenotype information. Using these datasets, you will undertake comprehensive strategies aimed at the characterisation and therapeutic targeting of medulloblastoma biology, focussing specifically on tumour metabolic targets.

You will develop and support the INSTINCT-MB. programme through the provision of experimental, analytical and bioinformatic expertise. This will include the development of experimental models of critical medulloblastoma targets, their use in experimental drug screening and efficacy studies of metabolic targets, and the generation and integration of genomics, proteomics, epigenomics and transcriptomics from these models alongside extensive human tumour collections.

You will be PhD-qualified, or have submitted your PhD thesis for examination at the point of commencing this post, with experience in contemporary molecular cell biology, tumour metabolism, experimental modelling and bioinformatics as applied to translational cancer genomics, ideally within the context of childhood medulloblastoma, and a keen interest to develop your research skills and career in these areas.

This post is fixed term for a period of 17 months.

For informal enquiries contact: Professor Steve Clifford (steve.clifford@ncl.ac.uk) or Dr Rebecca Hill (rebecca.hill@ncl.ac.uk)

Find out more about the Newcastle University Centre for Cancer here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/cancer 

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/ 

Find out more about our Research Institutes here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/institutes/

As part of our commitment to career development for research colleagues, the University has developed 3 levels of research role profiles.  These profiles set out firstly the generic competences and responsibilities expected of role holders at each level and secondly the general qualifications and experiences needed for entry at a particular level.

Please note that if you are successful to this role, you will require medical clearance before you can commence in the role.

Key Accountabilities

• Although working under the general guidance of an academic or Principal Investigator, the postholder will contribute ideas, including enhancements to the technical or methodological aspects of their studies, thus providing substantial 'added value'
• Develop and carry out the specified project using appropriate techniques and equipment as outlined in the personal requirements
• Determine appropriate methodologies for research, with advice and support where required
• Contribute to grant applications submitted by others and in time develop own research objectives and proposals for funding
• Begin to write, with appropriate support, proposals for individual research funding or, where funders do not permit this, contribute to the writing of collective bids
• Assess research findings for the need/scope for further investigations
• Contribute to the writing up of their research for publication and dissemination, either through seminar and conference presentations or through publications
• Present research findings, either at conferences or through publications in reputable outlets appropriate to the discipline
• May be involved in the supervision, with guidance, of final year undergraduate research projects and in providing support to postgraduate research students or Research Assistants
• Will need to work with the support staff and, on occasions, with undergraduate and postgraduate students, and interact intellectually with other academic members of the Institute.
• May contribute to events celebrating the public engagement of science/social sciences/humanities
• Develop an awareness of University structures, policies and procedures and relevant issues in the higher education, research, social and political environment
• Generate, analyse and integrate biological, genetic, functional genomic and therapeutic datasets from experimental models and human tumour datasets, and use these to identify critical therapeutic vulnerabilities within metabolic pathways for furtherinvestigation and validation
• Design and undertake experiments to establish and validate the biological roles of molecular defects in experimental models, and their potential for therapeutic targeting, with a particular focus on tumour metabolism
• Maintain a high level of up-to-date specialist knowledge, by reading relevant journals and participating in relevant conferences, so as to support the INSTINCT-MB team in making strategic decisions
• Work alongside, and liaise with, collaborative partners within the INSTINCT-MB network institutions
• Ensure intellectual rigour and adherence to ethical standards in the research for which they are responsible; all experiments conducted will be expected to meet the Paediatric Brain Tumour Research Group’s rigorous scientific standards
• Perform any other duties within the remit of the grade as required by the programme PIs

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Ability to work well as part of a team and rapidly acquire new skills
• Detailed subject knowledge relevant to cancer biology and targeted therapeutics
• Likelihood of advanced skills directly related to the research projects
• High level of analytical and problem-solving capability
• Ability to communicate complex information with clarity and to encourage the commitment of others
• Experience of research with clear transferable skills and some experience or awareness of the research environment
• Presentations at conferences and/or high-quality publications and/or substantial contributions to advanced research programmes
• Extensive experience with experimental model systems and DNA and protein-based assay methods including PCR, next-generation sequence analysis, immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridisation
• Experience in cancer model development and pre-clinical therapeutic trials
• Evidence of working with human or model tissues for immunohistochemical and genetic profiling 
• Experience in the development and validation of molecular genetic and therapeutic assays
• Experience of analysis of high-throughput biological and clinical data using bioinformatics software and methodologies (e.g. R/Bioconductor statistical environment)
• Previous specialist experience and in-depth specialist understanding of relevant technologies, and interest in evaluation and possible acquisition of, the latest breakthrough technologies

Desirable

• Experience in medulloblastoma research
• Experience in developing approaches to therapeutically target tumour metabolism
• Experience in next-generation sequencing techniques
• Experience of curating biological, genomic and clinical data, and management of sample resources

Attributes and Behaviour

• Experience at doctoral level or equivalent with a substantial research background, of strong relevance to the aims of INSTINCT-MB programme
• Clear evidence of the ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary research team
• Evidence of good oral communication skills; flexible independent working; initiative
• Proven analytical and problem solving skills and experience
• Willingness to undertake training in in vivo experimental modelling

Desirable

• Experience in oncology research

Qualifications

• Honours degree (or equivalent) with specialist subject knowledge in cancer genomics and bioinformatics (Research Assistant)
• A PhD in cancer biology and/or therapeutics required (Research Associate)

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: 28441