Post-Doctoral Research Associate

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Reference:
JAN

Expiry date: 23:59, Thu, 26th Feb 2026

Location:

Liverpool

Full-Time, Fixed-term appointment for up to 3 years

Location Liverpool with international travel

The Tropical Disease Biology Department at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) is seeking to appoint a highly motivated and talented Postdoctoral Research Associate to join our dynamic and interdisciplinary research team.

The successful candidate will contribute to cutting-edge research focused on the development of next‑generation vaccines and immunotherapies for emerging infectious diseases. This role will involve leading the development of strategies to enhance intramuscular delivery, integrating multidisciplinary approaches that bridge novel synthetic nucleic acid and protein design with pharmacokinetic analyses, potency assessment, and immune modulation.

This post offers an excellent opportunity to work within a world‑leading institution dedicated to improving global health through innovative biomedical research.

Applicants with experience in in vivo gene therapy and/or respiratory pathogens are strongly encouraged to apply.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Design and optimise synthetic nucleic acid constructs and proteins encoding monoclonal antibodies, vaccine immunogens, or other therapeutic proteins
• Molecular cloning, including optimising and validating a barcoding strategy to refine intracellular tracking
• Establish and maintain muscle cell cultures, optimise transfection methods, and apply advanced biochemical and imaging techniques to study protein‑protein interactions and cellular processes associated with protein folding.

• Implement small animal models to conduct pharmacokinetic, biodistribution, and infection studies
• Evaluate immunogenicity using cellular, virology, and molecular assays (e.g. ELISA, flow cytometry, ELISpot, virus neutralization assays)
• Optimise and refine muscle and lung tissue analysis (e.g. imaging, RNA‑seq)
• Work closely with the team and collaborators to develop, optimise, and validate in silico and in vitro predictive models for in vivo delivery
• Troubleshoot and optimise experimental workflows

• Maintain rigorous laboratory records, detailed documentation and data organisation
• Analyse experimental data using statistical and visualization tools (e.g., Flow Jo, Graph Pad, R/Python)
• Prepare project reports, presentations, manuscripts, and assist in preparation of funding applications
• Participate and engage with academic and industry partners to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaboration

• Mentor and train junior researchers, students, technicians, and visitors
• Foster a supportive and collaborative research environment

Safety and compliance

• Maintain a safe and efficient laboratory environment, ensuring adherence to all institutional and regulatory safety protocols.
• Conduct risk assessments and ensure compliance with biosafety and chemical safety regulations.
• Compliance with laboratory rigour, standards, and licensing requirements for working with animals.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate:

• PhD/DPhil or equivalent degree in virology, immunology, and molecular biology, or a related discipline (or close to obtaining this)
• Experience maintaining stocks of mammalian cells
• Experience in general molecular biology techniques, cell biology
• A strong publication track record
• Hands‑on expertise with in vitro cell‑based assay development, flow cytometry, and primary immune cell assays
• Experience writing research papers and submitting to journals for publication
• Fundamental understanding of infectious diseases (viruses and/or bacteria) and immunology
• Experience handling and performing experiments with small animal models (desirable)

(For a full list of essential and desirable criteria please refer to the job description and person specification)

• Generous occupational pension schemes
• Government backed “cycle to work” scheme.
• Affiliated, discounted staff membership to the University of Liverpool…