Main Purpose of the Job

The Earlham Institute is looking for an experienced molecular biologist with skills in molecular cloning/DNA assembly and working with engineered organisms to join the Earlham Biofoundry team. The post holder will:
• Contribute to research projects and execution of established automated workflows
• Contribute to the laboratory maintenance and routine procedures
• Engage with scientists to understand their technical aims and assess the suitability of new projects
• Contribute to the development of the Biofoundry
• Interact with biofoundry and synthetic biology networks to exchange information and to keep abreast of new technologies and best practices

Key Relationships

INTERNAL: Science Faculty and Research Teams, Director and Senior Management Teams, Business Development Teams, Capabilities Teams
EXTERNAL: technology suppliers (in particular robotics platform solution providers)., collaborators, clients and other key stakeholders, visitors to EI,

Main Activities & Responsibilities

Percentage

Contribute to the delivery of collaborative research projects and established automated workflows and laboratory maintenance

50

Engage with scientists to understand their technical aims and assess the suitability of new projects

30

Contribute to the development of the Biofoundry and assist with the technical aspects of the Biofoundry

10

Interact with biofoundry and synthetic biology networks to exchange information and to keep abreast of new technologies and best practices

5

Any other duties commensurate with the nature of the role, as agreed with the Biofoundry senior management

5

Education & Qualifications

Requirement

Importance

BSc or equivalent in Biological Sciences or related subjects

Essential

PhD in Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Metabolic Engineering, Synthetic Biology, or a related subject

Desirable

Specialist Knowledge & Skills

Requirement

Importance

Knowledge of molecular biology laboratory techniques including molecular cloning, purification of DNA, transfection and transformation, gene-expression analysis, genotyping etc.

Essential

Knowledge of methods used to deliver DNA to bacteria and eukaryotic cells

Essential

Knowledge of parallel DNA assembly technologies such as Golden Gate and Gibson assembly

Desirable

Knowledge of genome engineering technologies

Desirable

Knowledge of the general approaches used in metabolic engineering

Desirable

Relevant Experience

Requirement

Importance

Experience with heterologous gene expression techniques including construct design, transfection/transformation

Essential

Experience assessing the genotypes and phenotypes of engineered organisms

Essential

Experienced in providing project updates to internal and external stakeholders

Desirable

Experience in planning and executing large-scale molecular biology experiments (large numbers of samples or large numbers of tests)

Desirable

Interpersonal & Communication Skills

Requirement

Importance

Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, including the ability to present complex information with clarity

Essential

Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work as part of a team

Essential

Ability to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders

Essential

Promotes and strives for continuous improvement

Essential

Excellent organisational skills

Desirable

Additional Requirements

Requirement

Importance

Attention to detail

Essential

Promotes equality and values diversity

Essential

Willingness to embrace the expected values and behaviours of all staff at the Institute, ensuring it is a great place to work

Essential

Able to present a positive image of self and the Institute, promoting both the international reputation and public engagement aims of the Institute

Essential

Willingness to work outside standard working hours when required

Essential

Earlham Institute

Earlham Institute is a vibrant, contemporary research institute and registered charity, working in an area of rapid technological development and innovation.

Earlham Institute is strategically funded by the BBSRC to lead the development of a skill base in bioinformatics and a genomics technology platform for UK bioscience. The Institute is located on the Norwich Research Park, together with its partners: the John Innes Centre, the Institute of Food Research, The Sainsbury Laboratory, the University of East Anglia and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. The research park has an excellent reputation for research in plant and microbial sciences, interdisciplinary environmental science and food, diet and health, to which Earlham Institute contributes strengths in genomics and bioinformatics. Close links exist between the NRP partners and new opportunities for collaboration in exciting new initiatives are under development. The NRP recently received £26M of government investment to facilitate innovation and further develop infrastructure to attract science and technology companies to the Park to enhance the vibrant environment and realise economic impact from research investment.

Earlham Institute is a UK hub for innovative Bioinformatics through research, analysis and interpretation of multiple, complex data sets. It hosts one of the largest computing hardware facilities dedicated to life science research in Europe. This has been boosted recently by an e-Infrastructure grant to expand the data storage capacity to a multi-petabyte unit, deploying a high performance cluster and large-memory server enabling the allocation of processes requiring several terabytes of computing memory.

Earlham Institute’s state of the art DNA sequencing facility operates multiple complementary technologies for data generation that provide the foundation for analyses furthering our fundamental understanding of genomes and how they function. We aim to be at the forefront of technological advances and are developing and implementing technologies to generate and analyse new types of data. We also develop novel platforms to provide access to computational tools and processing capacity for multiple academic and industrial users and promoting applications of computational bioscience. Earlham Institute has one fully owned subsidiary, Genome Enterprise Ltd (GEL) via which it offers genomic and bioinformatics services on a trading basis and works with commercial providers on a partnership basis. Earlham Institute also receives specific funding to enable knowledge exchange programmes which are supported across the institute teams.

Department

Engineering Biology

Group Details

Biofoundries integrate high-throughput hardware platforms with synthetic biology approaches to enable large-scale experimentation and accelerate the ‘design-build-test’ of engineered organisms. The Earlham Biofoundry (https://www.earlham.ac.uk/earlham-biofoundry) was established in 2016 via the UK’s Synthetic Biology for Growth program and receives strategic funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Our mission is to work collaboratively with researchers across academia and industry to enable new research directions that drive innovation in the biosciences and bioeconomy. The powerful combination of laboratory infrastructure and expertise in molecular biology and automation programming provides flexible resources for a wide range of workflows and research areas.

Living in Norfolk

• Visit Norfolk
• Schools in Norfolk
• Childcare in Norfolk

Senior Research Technician

Applications are invited for a Senior Research Technician to join the Biofoundry at the Earlham Institute, based in Norwich, UK.

Background:

The Earlham Institute is looking for an experienced molecular biologist with skills in molecular cloning/DNA assembly and characterisation of engineered organisms to assist the Earlham Biofoundry.

Biofoundries integrate high-throughput hardware platforms with synthetic biology approaches to enable large-scale experimentation and accelerate the ‘design-build-test’ of engineered organisms. The Earlham Biofoundry was established in 2016 via the UK’s Synthetic Biology for Growth program and receives strategic funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Our mission is to work collaboratively with researchers across academia and industry to enable new research directions that drive innovation in the biosciences and bioeconomy. The powerful combination of laboratory infrastructure and expertise in molecular biology and automation programming provides flexible resources for a wide range of workflows and research areas. 

The role:

The post holder will:
• Enable the delivery of research projects and established automated workflows
• Engage with scientists to understand their technical aims and assess the suitability of new projects
• Contribute to the development of the Biofoundry
• Interact with biofoundry and synthetic biology networks to exchange information and to keep abreast of new technologies and best practices.

They will work closely with the Earlham Biofoundry automation specialist and gain skills in working with laboratory automation. They will have the opportunity to work across a broad range of projects.

The ideal candidate:

Candidates should have a good understanding of common molecular biology laboratory techniques including molecular cloning, purification of DNA, transfection and transformation, gene expression analysis, gene-editing, genotyping etc. Good communication and organisation skills with the ability to work in a team and independently are also required.

Additional information:

Salary on appointment will be within the range £32,578 to £39,938 per annum depending on qualifications and experience. This is a full-time post for a contract of 42 months.

Interviews will be held on 20th July 2022.

As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee to offer an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for this vacancy.

The closing date for applications will be 11th July 2022.