Senior Scientist, Plant Metabolic Engineering

Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford; Oxford; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Travel allowance

Bonus

Pension - Employer contribution 7.5%

Private Medical Insurance

Job summary

The Plant Biology Institute at Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford seeks a Scientist or Senior Scientist in Plant Metabolic Engineering to lead the development of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches in plants.

You will work across plant cell cultures and whole plants, contribute to IP generation, publish findings, and mentor researchers while translating results into commercial opportunities aligned with EIT's humane technological advancement.

Qualifications

• PhD in Plant Biology, Synthetic Biology, Metabolic Engineering, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience in plant metabolic engineering and synthetic biology.
• Demonstrated experience in targeted manipulation of cellular processes.
• Demonstrated experience developing or applying methods to measure respiration, energy status, redox balance and related metabolic parameters.
• Demonstrated experience of transient and stable genetic engineering in plant cell cultures, tissues and/or whole plants.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement and characterise engineering strategies to manipulate plant respiratory activity, energy status, and redox balance.
• Develop and apply methods to quantify cellular respiratory activity, energy status, redox balance and other metabolic responses in plant cells and tissues.
• Lead experiments in plant cell cultures and whole plants, ensuring findings translate between systems.
• Lead phenotyping of engineered cell cultures and plant lines using physiological, biochemical, imaging and multi-omics approaches.
• Apply iterative design-build-test-learn cycles to develop and refine engineering strategies.
• Advance promising engineering strategies into whole plants for functional validation.
• Drive rigorous experimental design, execution, and data interpretations, ensuring robust and reproducible outcomes.
• Deliver research progress through stage-gated milestones.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to incorporate cutting-edge techniques.
• Present scientific work at seminars within EIT and external meetings, contribute to discussions on developments.
• Assist in mentoring other members of the research group and translation of results into commercial opportunities.

Skills

Plant metabolic engineering

Synthetic biology

Genetic engineering

Metabolic measurements

Education

PhD in Plant Biology / related discipline

Job description

The Plant Biology Institute at Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford seeks a Scientist or Senior Scientist in Plant Metabolic Engineering to lead the development of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches in plants.

You will work across plant cell cultures and whole plants, contribute to IP generation, publish findings, and mentor researchers while translating results into commercial opportunities aligned with EIT's humane technological advancement.