Vacancies

Dementia is the greatest health challenge of our century.

The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is the biggest UK initiative supporting research to fill this gap.

The UK DRI Care Research and Technology at Imperial has been established to address a medical research area of highest importance and future impact as one of seven new national centres of excellence embedded in major UK universities. Together the centres will transform the diagnosis, treatment and care of people with dementias. The MRC, alongside charity partners Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK, have invested £250m in fulfilment of the ambition identified in the Prime Minister's 2020 Challenge on Dementia.

The UK DRI Care Research and Technology centre at Imperial is seeking an experienced Centre and Research Commercialisation Manager interested taking on a challenging role with considerable responsibility and scope for personal growth. The post holder will manage the UK DRI Care Research and Technology centre, working closely with the centre Associate Director, Prof David Sharp, as well as colleagues in the UK DRI HQ and other centres to deliver on its ambitious six-year plan. They will oversee the centre’s complex multi-disciplinary research operation, act as the principle liaison with both the funder and partner institutes and be responsible for contributing to innovative research and business development within the Centre.

For full details, please visit the Imperial website.

Dr Maura Malpetti is looking for an enthusiastic Post-Doctoral Research Associate or Research Assistant to join her lab at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences of the University of Cambridge. The post is part of a Cambridge-based program aiming to investigate neuroinflammation in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and accelerate the development of treatments for dementia. To this end, we also recently established a multi-centre study, the UK-wide Open Network for Frontotemporal dementia Inflammation Research (ON-FIRE), which involves data collection from 22 sites across the UK.

The post will focus on the integration of novel PET and blood-based biomarkers of neuroinflammation, neuropathology and neurodegeneration, and clinical outcomes in models of disease progression in genetic and sporadic frontotemporal lobar degeneration. In this role, you will lead (i) PET imaging recruitment and data analysis in patients with frontotemporal dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy, (ii) the coordination of ON-FIRE and related studies on blood-based biomarkers. You will drive the project, develop and deliver the study's research objectives and be well equipped to present developments and key findings to relevant stakeholders.

For this post, you will have an undergraduate and/or a PhD in neurosciences, psychology, physiology or related discipline. You will have knowledge of neuroimaging, related research methods and applications, and project management skills. Experience in patient recruitment in research studies of dementia or mental health disorders would be advantageous. You will collaborate within a balanced team with post-doctoral scientists, clinical fellows, research nurses and students to ensure efficient research activities across the centre.

For informal inquiries regarding the role, contact Dr Maura Malpetti (mm2243@medschl.cam.ac.uk). The role will primarily be based at the Herchel Smith Building for Brain and Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SZ. The University values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity. We particularly encourage women and/or candidates from a minority background to apply for this vacancy as they are currently under-represented at this level within our University.

Closing date: 8th December 2024. 

Dr Maura Malpetti is looking for an enthusiastic Post-Doctoral Research Associate to join her lab at the Cambridge University Department of Clinical Neurosciences. The post is part of a Cambridge-based program aiming to investigate inflammation in frontotemporal dementia and accelerate the development of treatments for dementia. To this end, we recently established a multi-centre study, the UK-wide Open Network for Frontotemporal dementia Inflammation Research (ON-FIRE), which involves data collection from 22 sites across the UK.

As a Post-Doctoral Research Associate, you will lead the statistical analysis and data management for multivariate biomarkers identified using novel biochemical assays, including SIMOA, NULISA, Mass Spectrometry, multiomics and other data generating platforms. The role will involve computational analyses of blood-derived data - not wet-lab analyses on the samples - and leading academic and industry partners, including biochemical laboratory facilities such as the Biomarker Factory at the Dementia Research Institute.

The postholder will develop pipelines to (i) centralise adjunct data from all sites to Cambridge; (ii) combine multimodal data, linking blood samples to NHS digital records, genetics and available neuroimages; (iii) format and share data through the Dementias Platform UK data portal. You will lead computational analyses on biomarkers data, polygenic risk score calculations, and immunophenotyping data. You will drive the project, develop and deliver the study's research objectives and be well equipped to present developments and key findings to relevant stakeholders.

For this post, you will have an undergraduate and/or a PhD in Bioinformatics, Statistics or related discipline. You will have in-depth of knowledge of biostatistics, and related research methods and applications. Experience with machine learning algorithms and strong programming skills using platforms such as MATLAB, R, Bash and Python will be essential.

For informal inquiries regarding the role, contact Dr Maura Malpetti (mm2243@medschl.cam.ac.uk). The role will primarily be based at the Herchel Smith Building for Brain and Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SZ. The University values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity. We particularly encourage women and/or candidates from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background to apply for this vacancy as they are currently under-represented at this level within our University.

Closing date: 8th December 2024

About Us

The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is the biggest UK initiative supporting research to fill the major knowledge gap in our basic understanding of the diseases that cause dementia.

Research from UK DRI at UCL covers the journey from the patient to the laboratory and back to the patient with improved diagnosis, biomarkers and candidate therapies put to the test.

The Hong lab, based in the UK DRI at UCL, aims to understand whether neuro-glia-immune interactions in brain and gut and how they contribute to region-specific vulnerability in neurologic diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Specifically, the lab is interested in understanding the neuroimmune microenvironments at the synapse in aging and neurodegeneration.

About the role

We are now recruiting two highly motivated, experienced, and self-driven Research Fellows to join the Hong lab and study neuro-glia-immune interactions in neurodegeneration in the brain and gut-brain axis. Approaches for the project will be tailored to the specific questions being asked, but all relevant training will be given, and career development is actively encouraged.

Posts are available immediately funded by the UK DRI and the Alzheimer’s Association for one year in the first instance. Start date can be flexible depending on the candidate but is expected to be in 2025.

If you need reasonable adjustments or a more accessible format to apply for this job online, or have any queries regarding the application process, please contact the Institute of Neurology HR Team (ion.hradmin@ucl.ac.uk).

Informal enquiries regarding the role can be addressed to Dr Soyon Hong (soyon.hong@ucl.ac.uk).

A full job description and person specification for this role can be accessed below.

About you

You will have a PhD degree in Neuroimmunology, Neuroscience, or Immunology and a proven track record of publications, presentations, and research skills. Extensive laboratory experience in an interdisciplinary research environment studying immunology, neuroimmunology, glial biology and/or neuroscience is also required for the role, as is the ability to execute a programme of experiments through the design and improvement phase to data curation and publication.

This role meets the eligibility requirements for a skilled worker certificate of sponsorship or a global talent visa under UK Visas and Immigration legislation. Therefore, UCL welcomes applications from international applicants who require a visa.

For full details and to apply, visit the UCL website.