Postdoctoral Project Research Scientist – C Swanton Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Labora

Job Title

Postdoctoral Project Research Scientist – [C Swanton] Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory

Reporting to: Charles Swanton, Principal Investigator, Deputy Clinical Director

Contact term: This is a full-time 2 year position on Crick terms and conditions of employment.

Salary for this Role: From £45,500 with benefits, subject to skills and experience

Final date to receive applications: 31st of December 2025

The Francis Crick Institute is Europe’s largest biomedical research institute under one roof. Our world-class scientists and staff collaborate on vital research to help prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative conditions.

The Crick is a place for collaboration, innovation and exploration across many disciplines. A space where the brightest minds can pursue big and bold ideas and discover answers to crucial scientific questions. We support them in a dynamic environment which fosters excellence with state-of-the-art infrastructure, cutting‑edge facilities, and a creative and curious culture. We’ve removed traditional boundaries of departments, divisions and disciplines and instead have an open approach that supports every researcher.

This gives us the freedom to take risks and carry out high‑quality, pioneering research. Creating a space for discovery without boundaries helps us to turn our science into benefits for human health and the economy.

We are looking for a creative and enthusiastic Postdoctoral Project Research Scientist to join the C Swanton Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory

This lab studies how cancers evolve in the body to spread and become resistant to therapy and discovers new ways to treat them more effectively. The research highlights that tumours consist of diverse groups of genetically related cancer cells, some of which adapt to resist treatments like chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, and targeted therapy. This resistance makes recurrent cancers more difficult to treat, particularly in diseases such as lung cancer.

As a PPRS you will investigate the role of cell lineage upon lung cancer initiation, both in homeostasis and in the context of challenge with non‑mutagenic carcinogens. You will seek to understand which cells within the lung are most susceptible to air pollutants and the routes they take to tumourigenesis. By identifying common pathways across different lineages, you will aspire to identify actionable targets suitable for therapeutic intervention to prevent the onset of cancer.

Additionally you will contribute to research which is committed to advancing our understanding of the biology of lung tumour evolution.

You will need to have a creative approach to research with wet lab competencies, and encourage applicants with wet and dry lab skills to apply. As Postdocs may lead projects, collaborate across teams and partners, and support PhD students, it is essential you have strong communication and collaboration skills.

To decipher evolutionary mechanisms during lung cancer initiation and progression using data from animal models.

To employ novel informatics techniques based on evolutionary principles to the analysis of tumour subclonal evolution.

To understand cancer biology and the relevant literature sufficiently to take own ideas forward as lead author on new projects.

To work within the informatics team of the TRACERx and TRACERx EVO programs.

To record all experiments and code in an accurate timely, clearly presented and reproducible manner.

To contribute to the dissemination of scientific results by means of writing papers for publication and presentations.

• PhD – Minimum Criteria
• Previous experience with cancer genomics NGS data
• Fluent in R or Python
• Evidence of significant contribution to high impact publications
• Experience with HPC environments
• Experience of collaboration with clinicians and wet lab scientists or work within a multi-disciplinary environment
• Experience in evolutionary biology or cancer biology

• We are bold
  . We make space for creative, dynamic and…