We're recruiting!
Since launching in 2017, our institute has rapidly grown to over 350 researchers and 150 students, but we have space for many more as we grow the capacity in the field.
We’re looking for brilliant people who will help transform the range and pace of research on dementia. You’ll be supported by the very best tools and resources and join a culture that encourages high risk/reward science and sharing of ideas.
Together our teams create a vibrant, ambitious and interactive neuroscience community. We're seeking programme leaders, research associates, post-docs and other roles to fill our teams across our seven centres, as well as our operational headquarters team (based at UCL).
For recruitment enquiries, please contact us on enquiries@ukdri.ac.uk or 020 3108 6538.
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UCL
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Cardiff
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Imperial College London
King's College London- Care Research & Technology at Imperial
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Headquarters
UK DRI at Cardiff University
From gene to function: hunting for new treatment targets across Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Hungtington's disease.
- Specialisms at Cardiff
- Disease mechanisms building on genetic evidence including; risk profiles; pathways and networks associated with Alzheimer's disease, Huntington(s) diseases and other dementias
- Immunity
- Lipid processing
- Endocytosis
- ApoE
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Read more about Cardiff
Professor Julie Williams and colleagues at Cardiff University have discovered over 27 risk genes for dementia which implicate the innate immune response in determining a person’s susceptibility to developing Alzheimer’s disease. Building on their world-class expertise in genetics and immunology, the UK DRI at Cardiff University uses these discoveries as the starting point for understanding disease mechanisms and producing new therapies.
The team uses cellular and animal models to understand the function of risk genes implicated in two major areas of immunity: microglia cells and the complement system. They study the involvement of complement proteins in the loss of synapses and cell death in Alzheimer’s disease and describe how Alzheimer’s risk genes affect the production and activation of microglia in the brain.
An additional programme of work develops novel mathematical approaches to the study of dementia that will be shared with by all members of the UK DRI. This work is developing models for stratifying dementia risk and statistical tools for identifying patterns in large biological ‘omics’ data sets.
UK DRI at Cardiff University is located in the Hadyn Ellis building on the Innovation campus, with access to state of the art facilities within the Cardiff University Dementia Research Network.
Apply for latest jobs at Cardiff
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Research Associate, UK DRI at Cardiff - Dion Lab
The UK DRI at Cardiff is seeking a passionate, hard working, and creative Research Associate to join the lab of Prof Vincent Dion. The Dion lab has recently developed a novel method to contract expanded CAG/CTG repeats using the CRISPR/Cas9 nickase, thereby correcting the mutation that causes 14 different diseases. The goal of this project is to test whether this gene editing approach is applicable to myotonic dystrophy in vivo and to assess the extent of off-target mutations caused by this treatment in induced pluripotent stem cells. The work will have important implications to the design of novel therapeutic avenues for this group of debilitating neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases. You have expertise in molecular biology, tissue culture, including induced pluripotent stem cells, and/or CRISPR technology. Experience of high-throughput sequencing and its analysis is highly desirable. You have a postgraduate degree at PhD level (or nearing completion) in genetics, neuroscience, molecular biology or a related subject area, and established expertise and relevant experience within the fields of molecular biology and tissue culture and/or CRISPR/Cas9. Ref: 8505BR, Closing date: 11 December
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Group leaders
We have over 50 group leaders working across the institute, and are always seeking to fill more of these positions on a rolling basis - please contact your centre of interest to discuss opportunities further.
As a professor or fellow at one of the seven UK DRI centres, you would lead a group of postdoctoral fellows, PhD students and technical support staff. Directing activities on a local level and feeding into the organisation’s wider mission, you would provide the intellectual energy and independent thinking necessary to lead cutting-edge research, shaping the overall aims and achievements of your group.
To be successful, you should have a proven track record of internationally competitive scientific research and persuasive plans for a new and exciting UK DRI core programme. In return, the institute offers a five-year research programme package of up to £3 million for a professor and up to £1.5 million for a fellow. Recruiting UK DRI centres are offering competitive salaries. Programme leaders will be employees of the university hosting the UK DRI centre and will be employed under the standard employment terms and conditions of that university.
The UK DRI welcomes scientists from all disciplines. We encourage you to consider the specialisms across the institute and have a discussion with the associate director of your centre of interest. You will submit one application directly to your preferred UK DRI centre, which will be strongly considered at selection stage by the institute as a whole.
Postdoctoral researchers, research assistants and technicians
Our UK DRI centres are filling positions within their programmes. The institute offers interdisciplinary training and cutting-edge resources, with innovation at its heart.
We continuously have opportunities at all levels. Please explore within each centre to see roles that are open to join our ambitious and interactive community.
