We are seeking a Postdoctoral Scientist. The appointee will interact with clinicians as well as non-clinical scientists across the campus in Oxford, with the team at Ludger Ltd as well as with international partners in the  Intercept consortium. The focus is on the discovery of glycomic biomarkers to be used in the early pre-symptomatic diagnosis of  the chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

 

The post arises as the latest element in an on-going research programme aimed at understanding the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease, and in stratifying the care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Biomarker discovery by the application of multi-omics has been a focus of our teams’ work for over a decade, and this post builds on a series of previous studies, notably with collaborations between Oxford, international clinical partners, and the biotechnology industry. The collaboration with Ludger Ltd  has been productive in helping define the circulating glycome in disease, and biomarkers of severe ulcerative colitis.

 

The INTERCEPT consortium (intercept-ihi.eu)  is co-funded (38.05m Euro in total) by the European Community & industrial partners and represents  an ambitious cutting edge study to define biomarkers accurate for pre-symptomatic diagnosis in Crohn’s disease and to use these as the basis of early treatment intervention to either prevent disease, or reduce disease severity.   The post holder is a member of research groups with responsibility for carrying out translational research in inflammatory bowel disease. The post holder will work with non-clinical and clinical scientists in Oxford, in Ludger and in the collaborating centres. The post holder provides guidance to less experienced members of the research group, including postdocs, research assistants, technicians, and PhD and project students.

 

The post holder will ideally be able to combine bioinformatics and laboratory responsibilities, and will have received training as necessary in this. It will be a great advantage if the post holder is able to bring relevant skills to the post.  The post holder would need to have laboratory skills in analytical method development, specifically in HPLC and mass spectrometry based (electrospray type MS) separation and detection techniques. Ideally, but not essential, is familiarity with the scientific field of glycoscience.

 

It is essential to hold a relevant PhD/DPhil in a relevant scientific discipline such as genetics/cell biology/biochemistry/immunology. You will possess sufficient specialist knowledge in the discipline to work within established research programmes.

 

The post is full time and fixed term for up to 12 months in the first instance.

 

Applications for this vacancy are to be made online. You will be required to upload a supporting statement and CV as part of your online application.

 

Only applications received before 12:00 midday on 07/04/2025 will be considered.