JOB DESCRIPTION
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE (PART TIME) - VBS/0041/11
Job title:
Postdoctoral Research Associate (part-time)
Grade:
6
Department:
Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences (Neuromuscular Group)
Location:
Camden
Accountable to:
Professor Dominic Wells – Professor in Translational Medicine
The Neuromuscular Group
The Neuromuscular Group is part of the Lifestyle Research Programme at the Royal
Veterinary College
(http://www.rvc.ac.uk/Research/Programmes/Lifestyle/NeuromuscularGroup.cfm). The
Group includes four Principle Investigators, Professors Wells and Timmons and Drs Brown
and Piercy, and encompasses interests in transcriptomics, animal models, novel and retargeted therapeutics, neuromuscular physiology and clinical trials in animals and man.
The communal research lab is based at the College’s Camden campus and has access to all
the standard facilities for molecular and cellular studies as well as an imaging suite and a
dedicated neuromuscular physiology lab.
Job summary:
We seek a research scientist with experience in molecular and cell biology or physiology to
undertake a study of the functional consequences of antisense mediated exon-skipping for
the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The study will explore methods for
increasing the efficiency of exon-skipping by chemical and physical methods and by using a
range of arginine rich peptides linked to phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers
(PPMOs) to skip exon 23 in the mdx mouse model to restore the expression of dystrophin.
This part-time post (21 hours per week) is funded by an AFM grant to the UK MDEX
Consortium and is for 11 months in the first instance, potentially renewable for up to a total
of four year (dependent on annual confirmation of continued AFM funding). Possession of a
Home Office Personal Licence would be very welcome.
Main duties and responsibilities:
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Conduct a study of the functional consequences of PMO and PPMO treatment using
the mdx model.
Attend meetings and interact with other members of the MDEX consortium funded
by this grant.
Analyse and write up results for publication in high-impact peer-reviewed journals.
Follow Good Research Practice, Health and Safety and Ethics policies as applicable to
the work.
Other duties will include a modest amount of student project supervision, technical
and intellectual contribution to the research group as a whole.