Research Assistant/ Research Associate post: Viral Immunology and Vaccine Design
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Salary £31,986.06 per annum plus Living Allowance (£7,070.60 for a single fellow or £10,100.86 for a
married or equivalent fellow per annum)
Job ref. HW/15/059639/001283
King’s College London with its 200 years of heritage is recognised today as a world-leading research university, ranked
8th in the world for Clinical, Pre-Clinical and Health (Times Higher Education World University Rankings). We
understand the need to turn original thinking into everyday application, encouraging curiosity to develop work that
makes an impact on society and global issues. Great names from King’s are continuing to change the world.
The post funded by a prestigious Marie Curie ITN award from the European Commission is available to study the
cellular and molecular mechanisms by which anti-viral vaccines and immune adjuvants induce adaptive immunity. The
post holders will be joining Dr Klavinskis’ research team as part of an international collaboration with Professors: N
Lycke (Goteborg), X Saelens (Ghent), P Staeheli (Freiburg),M Rescigno (Milan) and D Betbeder (Lille) to take forward
a vaccine delivery platform developed by the Klavinskis lab (Bachy et al PNAS 2013, Becker et al Vaccine 2015) and
also novel CD8+ cytotoxic T cell-inducing vectors. See also
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/medicine/research/divisions/diiid/departments/immunobiology/research/Klavinskis/Klavinskis
.aspx)
The post, available (immediately) provides an exciting opportunity to be involved in cutting edge, biomedical science
in the Klavinskis lab that aims to advance our mechanistic understanding of cellular immune responses induced by
new tools and technologies for vaccination in humans.
Key goals are to generate and characterise recombinant cytotoxic T-cell inducing vectors, to determine antigen
processing and presentation and prepare challenge viruses for in vivo protective efficacy studies.
Successful candidates will have a good understanding of cellular/ mucosal/viral immunology; experience and skills to
investigate dendritic cells and CD8 T cells and practical experience in modern cellular immunology techniques.
Experience in animal handling, culture and analysis of viruses would be an asset and a high level of self-motivation and
enthusiastic commitment for research.
Relevant Publications from the Klavinskis lab
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Bachy V et al (2013). Langerin negative dendritic cells promote potent CD8+ T-cell priming by skin delivery of
live adenovirus vaccine microneedle arrays. PNAS http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23386724
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Chowell D et al (2015). Hydrophobicity is a hallmark of immunogenic MHC class I T cell epitopes. PNAS
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25831525
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Smyth LA et al (2012). Acquisition of MHC: peptide complexes by dendritic cells contributes to the generation
of anti-viral CD8+T cell immunity in vivo. J Immunol http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22821960
At the time of recruitment, researchers must NOT have resided or carried out their work /studies in the UK for more
than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment to fulfil conditions of trans-mobility of the Marie
Curie award. Researchers must also be within the first four years of their research careers (full-time equivalent), this
may include work for a PhD (doctorate) but must not yet have received the PhD award/certificate.
To apply and selection process details are downloaded on King’s College London HireWire Job Board
https://www.hirewire.co.uk/HE/1061247/MS_JobDetails.aspx?JobID=65419
For an informal discussion to find out more about the role please contact Dr Linda Klavinskis,
email linda.klavinskis@kcl.ac.uk / tel + 44 20 718 80151
The successful candidate will receive a salary in accordance with Marie Curie regulations. Exact salary will be confirmed
upon appointment. In addition Marie Curie fellows will benefit from further continuing education, which may include
secondments, a variety of training modules as well as transferrable skills courses and active participation in workshops
and conferences.
Closing date: midnight 06 December 2015