Research Associate in Genetic Engineering of Microbiomes

The University of Manchester; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 37,000 - 47,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK university in Manchester is seeking a research associate to join the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. This role involves engineering microbial communities for sustainable bioproducts using cutting-edge CRISPR-based techniques. The candidate will collaborate with postdocs and students, contributing to significant research in the field. Attractive benefits include a market-leading pension scheme and substantial annual leave. This position supports flexible hybrid work arrangements.

Benefits

Fantastic market leading Pension scheme

Excellent employee health and wellbeing services

Exceptional starting annual leave entitlement

Paid closure over the Christmas period

Local and national discounts at major retailers

Qualifications

• Conduct research on microbiome engineering under supervision.
• Design and deploy CRISPR-based tools for microbial community analysis.
• Work collaboratively with postdocs and PhD students.

Responsibilities

• Engineer microbial communities from hot springs to utilize CO2 and H2.
• Isolate individual community members for further analysis.
• Phenotype and adapt isolates and communities in cultivation experiments.

Skills

CRISPR-based microbiome engineering

Metagenomic engineering

Batch cultivation experiment design

Multi-species metabolic modelling

Education

PhD in a relevant field

Tools

Flow through bioreactors

Metabarcoding

Metagenomic sequencing

Metatranscriptomic sequencing

Job description

Manchester, Greater Manchester, M1 7DN £37,694 to £46,049 per annum, depending on relevant experience Contract NEW Working within Manchester Institute of Biotechnology under the supervision of Professor Neil Dixon, the post is funded by the BBSRC strategic Longer and Larger grant "Rules of life in CO2-driven microbial communities: Microbiome engineering for a Net Zero future". In this project we will deploy state of the art metagenomic engineering tools to permit in situ genetic augmentation to modify microbiome function. The long-term global is that these engineered microbiomes will support the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy and carbon-negative production of chemicals. You will be responsible for conducting research under the supervision of Profs Dixon and Nixon to engineer the microbial communities from hot springs that successfully grow on CO2 and H2. You will be responsible for the design and deployment of CRISPR-based microbiome engineering tools, to both isolate individual community members for analysis and to augment the entire microbiome community with modified functions. These isolates and augmented communities will phenotyped and further adapted under batch cultivation experiments and continuous cultivation studies using flow through bioreactors. You will work closely with other postdocs and PhD students in this project, who will be applying complimentary approaches to the same systems (including metabarcoding, metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing approaches, as well as multi-species metabolic modelling). You will also be supported by senior technical specialists.

What you will get in return:

• Fantastic market leading Pension scheme
• Excellent employee health and wellbeing services including an Employee Assistance Programme
• Exceptional starting annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays
• Additional paid closure over the Christmas period
• Local and national discounts at a range of major retailers

As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit. Our University is positive about flexible working you can find out more here Hybrid working arrangements may be considered.