Research Technician

Location: Brunel University London, Uxbridge Campus

Full time, Fixed-Term (36 months)

Salary: Grade 6 from: £32,995 to £37,488 per annum inclusive of London Weighting with potential to progress to £39,607 per annum, inclusive of London Weighting, through sustained exceptional contribution.

The McCarthy Lab has an exciting opportunity for a prospective Research Technician who is interested in synthetic biology approaches to engineer biofilms to better tackle environmental challenges.

This position is part of the recently funded UKRI funded Engineering Biology Programme Grant "EBIC: Environmental Biotechnology and Innovation Centre", a collaboration between 10 universities including Cranfield, Bangor, Brunel, East Anglia, Edinburgh, Essex, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt, Newcastle, and Southampton, as well as more than two dozen industry and academic partners.

You will be joining a highly interdisciplinary project, where we will blend synthetic biology, environmental engineering, and biotechnology to develop disruptive solutions to major environmental challenges. There will be a particular focus on developing approaches to harness bacterial community behaviours like biofilm formation to better tackle environmental pollutants such as waste plastics. Our aim is to leverage cutting-edge advancements in synthetic biology and biofilm engineering to develop innovative strategies for bioremediation, with a key focus on scalable solutions that can be readily adopted by the waste and water sectors.

This fast-paced project will give the successful candidate the opportunity to develop new skills by working closely with our interdisciplinary team and build their international profile including through research visits to academic collaborators and working with SMEs.

The successful candidate will be responsible for accurate and efficient data generation, data management, collation and the reporting of results to the project lead. The post-holder will need to demonstrate excellent attention to detail, organisational, team working and communication skills and have a keen interest in drafting research outputs for peer-review publication. The successful applicant will work closely with other researchers within the McCarthy Lab and with other EBIC partners.

Applicants must have a PhD or MSc in a relevant discipline. Experience and knowledge in the field of biofilm formation is essential. Experience in some or all of the following: advanced cloning systems, CRISPR tools, metagenomic mining and the use of different biofilm imaging platforms is highly desirable. They should be able to work both independently and collaboratively. This position is available for 36 months. Please include one paper or preprint that illustrates research skills that are relevant to this project.

The Division of Biosciences sits within the Department of Life Sciences. It is a large and expanding Division, delivering undergraduate programmes and postgraduate programmes. We work hard to provide a supportive and positive working environment and the Department of Life Sciences proudly holds an Athena SWAN Bronze Award. We are also a Disability Confident employer. The diversity of our staff adds greatly to this inclusive ethos.

For further information, please contact Dr Ronan McCarthy )

Closing date for applications: 15 April 2024

Interviews will take place week commencing: 22 April 2024

For further details about the post including the Job Description and Person Specification and to apply please visit

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Brunel University London has a strong commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. Our aim is to promote and achieve a fully inclusive workforce to reflect our community.

£32,995 to £37,488 - please see advert