Job offer Postdoctoral Research Associate in Computational Muscle Biology

King's College London; City Of London; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A prestigious UK university in London seeks a skilled researcher to lead computational analysis of muscle biology. The successful candidate will use advanced methods in a full-time role, starting February 2026. A PhD in a relevant field is required, and those awaiting PhD award will be considered. This position offers an opportunity to significantly contribute to cutting-edge research in a supportive environment.

Benefits

Inclusive and diverse workplace

Collaboration opportunities within academic community

Qualifications

• Demonstrated expertise in programming and scripting for data processing.
• Proven experience developing pipelines for analysis of large-scale data sets.
• Excellent organizational skills and academic integrity.

Responsibilities

• Lead computational lab analysis work across multiple projects.
• Use computational and bioinformatic pipelines to analyze data sets.
• Possibly modify or develop new approaches to data analysis.

Skills

Programming and scripting (R, Python, Bash)

Statistical modelling

Data normalization

Machine learning methods

Data management and version control (Git/GitHub)

Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Organizational skills

Education

PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Statistics, or related field

Job description

Dr Seaborne's group investigates the molecular and cellular mechanisms underpinning muscle biology, in the context of health and disease. His labs interests has begun to explore the analysis of multi-molecule data sets to understand how striated muscle is regulated during health, disease and stress-response contexts. The successful candidate will lead computational lab analysis work across multiple projects, largely focussing on the perturbation of skeletal muscle cells (myofibres) during periods of environmental and/or genetic influence (ageing, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, sex differences…) and in the analysis of single myofiber data sets. Importantly, the candidate will be required to use current and bespoke computational and bioinformatic pipelines to analyse these data sets, as well as possibly modify or develop their own approaches to reliably and accurately analyse these data. This is a 12 month full time on campus position (Guys Campus, London Bridge) starting no earlier than the 2 February 2026.

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community. We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's. We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible. To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our 'How we Recruit' pages. Interviews are due to be held week commencing 15 December 2025.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.
• Demonstrated expertise in programming and scripting (e.g. R, Python, Bash) for data processing, integration and visualisation.
• Proven experience developing and using necessary pipelines for analysis of large-scale bulk and single cell data sets.
• Strong understanding of statistical modelling, data normalisation and machine learning methods applied to biological datasets.
• Experience with data management and version control (Git/GitHub, workflow automation, documentation).
• Capacity to work independently and as a multi-disciplined team.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills (e.g. presentations, seminars, lab meetings…) as proven by track‑record of scientific publications in leading journals and scientific dissemination.
• Demonstrate excellent organisational skills, record keeping, academic integrity, and rigor.
• Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate, and the salary will increase to Grade 6.

Desirable criteria

• Experience analysing single-myofiber or muscle-based datasets using modern frameworks and pipelines.
• Familiarity with single-cell multi-omic data integration and network or pathway inference tools.
• Experience working in high-performance computing or cloud environments.
• Interest in developing novel computational or statistical methods for muscle biology.
• Enthusiasm for open science - sharing code, data and reproducible research practices.

The Centre for Human & Applied Physiological Sciences (CHAPS) is situated within the School of Basic & Medical Biosciences (within the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine), which is led by Professor Mathias Gautel and comprises five departments with a wide range of expertise and interests. Using a bench to bedside approach, the School aims to answer fundamental questions about biology in health and disease and apply this knowledge to the development of new and innovative clinical practise, alongside providing a rigorous academic programme for students.