Technician

Salary: £25,742 to £26,444 with progression to £27,979 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: 20 October 2023

The Role 

We are looking to recruit a laboratory technician to support ongoing research studies on human microbiomes and host-pathogen interactions conducted as part of the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre in the Oral Disease, Skin Disease and Immunogenomics. You will have opportunities to develop and apply cutting edge technologies including those arising from high-throughput sequencing, namely single cell RNA sequencing, immunological technologies and developing novel tools to investigate the human microbiome and address host pathogen interactions. The role will include deciphering the function of novel immune cell subsets and resistance markers in the immune system. 

Further information on the ongoing work of these teams can be found at: 
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/people/profile/shobaamarnath.html
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/csbb/people/profile/nickjakubovics.html#backgroundl

The successful applicant will hold: BTEC HNC/HND or equivalent in a relevant subject with technical expertise in microbiology and cellular immunology techniques, including flow cytometry, that will enable the post holder to support the projects.

This post will be physically located in Dental School and Dr. Amarnath’s laboratory, Leech Building, Medical School and will benefit from close collaborative working with Postdoctoral Scientists and Senior Academics.
 
You will be based at Newcastle University (NU), in the Bioscience Institute (NUBI) within the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS).  You will have a strong focus on interdisciplinarity and team science, establishing links between Bioscientists and clinicians and have a desire to work with other researchers at NU.  Researchers in NUBI and Dental Sciences have excellent opportunities to collaborate with members of our Translational and clinical Research Institute (NUTCRI) and Population Health Sciences Institute (NUPHSI) in FMS and with colleagues in the Department of Dermatology at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. This research community provides a unique, diverse and supportive environment where exciting research can expand and develop.  The Faculty provides excellent scientific facilities, offering state of the art technologies on site (https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/business/facilities/).  
 
Applications should consist of a full CV, and a covering letter and be submitted via our careers page.
 
For a discussion about this role, enquiries should be sent to nick.jakubovics@ncl.ac.uk  or Dr. Shoba Amarnath, shoba.amarnath@ncl.ac.uk.

Interviews are scheduled for November 2023 

The post is fixed term for 12 months.

Key Accountabilities
•    Support primary research in human microbiomes and host/pathogen interactions with support from Postdoctoral scientists and PIs in the group
•    Run flow cytometry experiments for the groups and perform basic analysis with support
•    Complete a range of maintenance activities and repairs
•    Liaise with suppliers and manufacturers to resolve problems and investigate replacement options
•    Advise on equipment capabilities demonstrating how results can be achieved by developing local procedures, establish and maintain a safe/compliant working environment
•    Assist with the completion and updating of a wide range of safety paperwork
•    Oversee compliance tasks ensuring timely completion and maintenance of appropriate records
•    Maintain broad and up to date health and safety knowledge providing support/advice to others
•    Schedule, prioritize and monitor work and performance in line with demands and deadlines
•    Hold delegated responsibility from the academic/technical lead for the planning, operation and supervision of a variety of laboratory spaces
•    Work collaboratively with the other areas to ensure efficiency and elimination of duplicated effort
•    Organize and facilitate progress and management meetings
•    Be a key contributor to service development, delivery and planning
•    Contribute and support change
•    Oversee local record keeping, inventory and asset management
•    Monitor resource usage and stores operations
•    Source and negotiate with suppliers for a range of items including specialist parts/equipment
•    Create, update and implement procedures to deliver an aligned, efficient and effective service
•    Provide a broad range of skilled research support
•    Prepare and manufacture a range of specimens/samples
•    Design, develop and deliver inductions, demonstrations and training covering a broad range of activities (not limited to techniques and equipment)
•    Assist managers with the identification of training and development needs
•    Develop a broad knowledge and skills base, sharing with others
•    Mentor junior staff
•    Any other duties within the scope and general nature of the grade which may be required
 

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

•    Thorough working knowledge of Health and Safety procedures, and experience of safe waste management within a workshop/laboratory environment
•    Demonstratable work experience in flow cytometry analysis and immune cell culture
•    Excellent team working skills
•    Demonstrates technical and problem solving capability
•    Demonstrates good organising ability to meet deadlines with a positive and proactive approach to duties and attention to detail
•    Ability to adapt to changes in teaching/research priorities

Attributes and Behaviour

•    Excellent oral and written communication skills 
•    Good interpersonal skills to interface with staff
•    Attention to detail to ensure accuracy and precision
•    Work in a collaborative and flexible way
•    To exhibit University and Faculty values and principles
•    Promotes a culture of mutual respect

Qualifications
•    BTEC HNC/HND or equivalent in relevant subject or equivalent experience
•    Professional registration with an accredited professional body (including HEA) or working towards this on appointment (Desirable)

Desirable
•    Contribute to design and specification of teaching/research activities
•    Bioinformatic skills
•    Knowledge of software programmes for data analysis including Graph Pad Prism, adobe photoshop, illustrator and bioinformatic programmes such as SeqGeq analysis
•    Experience with specific microbiology and/or immunology techniques such as microbial culture, tissue culture, nucleic acid extraction and ELISA
 

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.

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

Requisition ID: 26163