Applications are invited for the Invest in ME LunaNova Fellowship to join the Laboratory of Prof Simon Carding in the Food, Microbiome and Health research programme.

Background

We are seeking to appoint a talented and enthusiastic Postdoctoral Research Scientist to an InvestinME LunaNova funded Fellowship to undertake an exciting project investigating the hypothesis that ME/CFS is the result of premature aging of the immune system due to the chronic exposure to, and stimulation by, endogenous microbes and/or their products, including viruses that are (re)activated as a result of prior infection or chronic fatigue.

The successful candidate will contribute to the groups’ studies on the aetiology of ME/CFS and in particular the role that gastrointestinal tract-derived microbes and endogenous viruses play in disease pathophysiology.

The role

The LunaNova Fellow will be responsible for undertaking studies to identify and characterise microbes, microbial products and eukaryotic viruses/viromes in patient-derived samples obtained from UK and European ME/CFS biorepositories and from patients participating in QI based clinical trials.

This will include investigating the impact of microbiota replacement therapy/faecal microbiota transplantation (MRT/FMT) on microbe/virus activation/reactivation and immune function in patients enrolled in the RESTORE-ME Phase IIb clinical trial.

The post-holder will be expected to both develop new protocols and utilise existing protocols established at QIB, and in the laboratories of our collaborators at the Universidad Catolica de Valencia, Spain (UCV), and University of Birmingham, UK (UoB) for the assessment of endogenous eukaryotic viruses/viromes and immune function/ageing, respectively. This will include the isolation of microbe-derived microvesicles and viral products and developing co-culture systems to investigate their impact on immune cells using multi-parameter deep single cell immune phenotyping and functional profiling, and the interpretation and integration of datasets.

The ideal candidate

The ideal candidate should have a PhD in biological sciences/microbiology/virology/immunology with theoretical and/or practical experience of cellular immunology, molecular microbiology/virology and microbiomics. It is essential that the post holder will have excellent communication and organisation skills, a proven record in scientific writing, and the ability to work independently as well as part of a team.

Additional information

Salary on appointment will be within the range £35,300 to £37,800 per annum depending on qualifications and experience. This is a full-time post for a contract of 24 months and provides an opportunity for the post holder to develop skills in human virology/viromics, immunology and immune senescence and the management/running of human clinical trials.

Further information and details of how to apply can be found on the HR website or contact the Human Resources team on 01603 450814 or nbi.recruitment@nbi.ac.uk quoting reference 1004579.

Interviews will be held on 23 February 2024.

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sectors of society.  The Institute supports equality of opportunity within the workplace and expects all employees to share and display these values.  To support our commitment, we have a range of family, faith and diversity friendly working arrangements to help all staff achieve excellence in their area of work.

As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee to offer an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for this vacancy.

The closing date for applications will be 2 February 2024.

The Quadram Institute Bioscience is a registered charity (No. 1058499) and is an Equal Opportunities Employer.