Pathogen Research Assistant: Automated Microbiology Lab

Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford; Oxford; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 38,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Travel allowance + Bonus

Pension

Life Assurance

Income Protection

Private Medical Insurance

Hospital Cash Plan

Therapy Services

Perk Box

Electric Car Scheme

Job summary

Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford seeks a dedicated Research Assistant for the Pathogen Program to support high-quality microbiology data generation and R&D. You will contribute to large-scale biobanking, AST testing, and sequencing-related workflows in an automated, scalable lab environment.

You will work under senior microbiologists in a fast-paced, data-driven setting focused on reducing global pathogen health burdens through robust protocols and high-quality datasets.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Microbiology, Molecular Biology, or a related life science discipline.
• >2 years of hands-on wet-lab experience (healthcare, industry or academia).
• Experience of antimicrobial susceptibility testing and MALDI-TOF identification.

Responsibilities

• Perform AST of bacterial isolates compliant with established guidelines (EUCAST/CLSI).
• Contribute to the design and improvement of laboratory workflows, including assay setup, sample handling, and data generation processes.
• Prepare and handle microbial cultures under BSL-2 conditions, including plating, inoculation, and incubation ensuring excellent aseptic technique, biosafety, and quality control at all stages.
• Perform identification of microbial cultures using MALDI-TOF and/or culture-based methods.
• Perform biobanking of microbial cultures.
• Operate automated and semi-automated workflows for micro-broth dilution.
• Ability to work collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams, contributing to shared project and team objectives.

Skills

Wet-lab experience

Microbiology techniques

Attention to detail

Organisational skills

Record-keeping

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing

BSL-2 operations

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Microbiology/Molecular Biology

Tools

MALDI-TOF systems

LIMS

Hamilton

Opentrons

Job description

Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford seeks a dedicated Research Assistant for the Pathogen Program to support high-quality microbiology data generation and R&D. You will contribute to large-scale biobanking, AST testing, and sequencing-related workflows in an automated, scalable lab environment.

You will work under senior microbiologists in a fast-paced, data-driven setting focused on reducing global pathogen health burdens through robust protocols and high-quality datasets.