英国剑桥郡博后职位生物学3D骨髓微生物系

At AstraZeneca, we believe in the potential of people who share our passion for science. By thinking boldly and working collaboratively to pursue discoveries beyond imagination, you'll develop further and faster than you thought possible. We'll complement your drive and determination to meet unmet patient needs around the world with the inspiration and opportunities to enhance your niche expertise a nd build your skills. So if you're curious about what science can do, come and make a difference.

Drug Safety and Metabolism

One of the greatest challenges when discovering and formulating effective medicines lies in mapping their pharmacokinetic properties – how they'll react within the human body. You'll ensure our drug products are safe for clinical trials, and ultimately safe to deliver as novel treatments to patients. To make that happen, you'll be working with truly cutting-edge in silico, in vivo, cellular and molecular technologies to push the boundaries of predictive science.

Main duties and responsibilities

This post-doc position presents an exciting opportunity to develop the biological understanding of a cutting edge microphysiological system (MPS) for human bone marrow (BM), with the goal of advancing this emerging scientific and technical discipline and delivering high impact publications. In partnership with TissUse (Berlin), we have developed an enhanced BM MPS using primary human co-cultured cells, incorporating microfluidics to mimic in-vivo physical cues enabling prolonged system stability and cell differentiation.

You'll focus on building our understanding of the platform's biology including physiological and pharmacological responses. In addition, a systems biology based modelling approach will be developed to optimize the utility of the system. We believe this project has the potential to produce a humanized in-vitro system capable of recapitulating human BM biology sufficiently to provide a best in class model system for the study of haematotoxicity, genetic toxicity and BM biology.

You'll perform a physiological and pharmacological characterisation of an advanced 3D bone marrow microphysiological system and optimise it for application across multiple disciplines including bioscience, haematotoxicity and genetic toxicity. The role will involve applying flow cytometry/imaging and complimentary approaches to compare the biology of the MPS system to in-vivo physiological conditions, as well as performing in-vitro studies and partner with our industry leading modelling and simulation team to understand the kinetics of the response to pharmacological stimuli. You'll also identify opportunities to combine the bone marrow component with additional organ components to better reflect human physiology.

We'll encourage you to publish your findings in high impact journals and influence upcoming drug combination clinical trials. You'll also present research outcomes in major international scientific meetings e.g. Biomedical Engineering Society.

Essential requirements

• PhD and/or MD in a biological science or a biomedical engineering discipline
• Expertise in standard cell biology techniques and mammalian cell culture techniques
• Knowledge of human bone marrow/hematopoietic biology
• Strong laboratory-based skills in molecular biology, imaging and/or in vitro cell-based models
• An innovative and creative mind-set, combined with scientific excellence and problem solving skills
• An awareness of, and strong interest in new in-vitro methodologies through literature review and networking
• Strong organisational, communication and interpersonal skills
• A genuine passion for pushing the boundaries of science and a desire to apply in-depth biological understanding to generate innovative solutions to evaluating human and patient-centric biology
• A proven record of work published in high quality scientific journals.
  

   

Desirable requirements

• Experience in 3D microtissue/organoid cell culture techniques or human primary cell cultures
• Experience in the setting up and use of microfluidic devices, especially body-on-a-chip platforms
• Experience in flow cytometry, immunocytostaining, confocal microscopy, next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics
• Understanding of pharmacokinetics/ pharmacodynamics relationship and translation to patients
• Understanding of mathematical/predictive modelling.

• To apply for this position, please click the apply link below

AstraZeneca is an equal opportunity employer. AstraZeneca will consider all qualified applicants for employment without discrimination on grounds of disability, sex or sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity leave status, race or national or ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, gender identity or re-assignment, marital or civil partnership status, protected veteran status (if applicable) or any other characteristic protected by law. AstraZeneca only employs individuals with the right to work in the country/ies where the role is advertised.

This is a 2-year, fixed-term contract, plus 1 year which will be merit based. The role will be based in Cambridge, UK, with a competitive salary on offer.

Opening date of advert: 17th February 2017

Closing date of advert: 18th April 2017