Trainee Bacteriologist

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 354043**Salary**:

- £27,245- A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%**Job grade**:

- Administrative Officer- Assistant Scientific Officer**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- APHA - Science - Bacteriology**Type of role**:

- Science**Working pattern**:

- Full-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- New Haw, South East England, KT15 3NBAbout the job

**Job summary**:
**Do you want a role safeguarding standards of animal and plant health and welfare? If so, we would love to hear from you**

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. Our diverse teams of over 3,000 skilled and committed professionals come together to provide research, advice and support to UK Government for safeguarding animal, public and plant health for benefit of the environment and economy. The Science Directorate (SD) delivers high quality, high impact and highly relevant multidisciplinary science. Our People are diverse, talented, engaged and inspired to deliver innovative outcomes. Staff are respected, included, supported and engaged and Bacteriology is one of the departments within the Science Directorate.

You will be providing scientific support for a wide range of projects within the Department of Bacteriology, APHA Weybridge. This might include work for Defra, government organizations such as the Food Standards Agency, veterinary customers, and academia or for those in bioveterinary pharmaceuticals. Individual posts may be focused on specific types of activity, such as field investigations, culture of bacteria from samples, bacterial identification, typing, characterization, aiding in production of diagnostic reagents or disinfection.

This is a laboratory based post based at Weybridge, Surrey.

This is a permanent post and we will provide you with an extensive training and development programme to support you in your role and achieving your career ambitions. Part of this training and development programme will be to provide you with a fully funded Biological Science Degree Apprenticeship with NESCOT College.

**Job description**:
This is a junior position where full training and guidance across a range of bacteriological techniques will be provided. The post holder will be expected to work flexibly where scientific activities are likely to include some of the following:

- Culture of different organisms (e.g. E. coli, Salmonella spp., Staph aureus, Brucella spp., Campylobacter spp., Mycoplasmas or TB) on specialist media from a wide range of biological samples (e.g. faeces, tissues, swabs or food samples)
- Phenotypic tests including serological identification and/or typing, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, including minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and zone diffusion testing
- Assistance with the collection of samples farm animal premises, feed mills, abattoirs and hatcheries (requires availability to perform physically demanding field work, partly during unsocial hours, and occasional overnight stays in different parts of the country)
- Production and standardisation of reagents for surveillance projects and international trade assays
- Tests to determine the efficacy of disinfectants
- Molecular tests including antimicrobial resistance gene detection by either single gene (PCR) or whole genome sequencing (WGS) approaches, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, other WGS related tests. Basic related ‘bioinformatics’
- Basic immunology including cell counting and immunoassay of cytokines
- Undertake serological tests to support research projects, international trade and OIE collaboration projects
- Speciation of bacteria by biochemical, genetic and MALDI-ToF approaches
- Presentation of data in tabular or graphical formats for compilation in reports or papers
- Responsibility as a room officer for a laboratory
- Working to quality (ISO 9001:2015 or ISO 17025) and safety standards
- Flexible working to contribute to a range of scientific projects in the laboratory and in the field
- Quality assurance testing of media
- Working to tight deadlines of commercial customers
- Work according to the latest version of the APHA safety policies

**Person specification**:
The post holder will work in busy teams in the Bacteriology department. They will be given the opportunity of receiving training in several aspects of the work, and full guidance will be provided. The post holder will be expected to deliver at pace in a team environment, be keen to learn and work accordingly to the latest Health and Safety and Quality guidance.

**Experience***

Essential scientific skills are listed below and are those required for the delivery of bacteriology for our customers:

- Experience in the use of computer software including Microsoft Office.
- Ability to organise own work and time.
- An interest in sc