Post-Doctoral Research Associate

Vacancy Reference Number

ZE44008

Closing Date

8 Dec 2024

Salary

£36,924-£45,163

Address

UK DRI at The University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1TN

Duration

Fixed Term

Dementia is the greatest health challenge of our century. To date there is no way to prevent it or even slow its progression, and there is an urgent need to fill the knowledge gap in our basic understanding of the diseases that cause it. The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is the biggest UK initiative driving forward research to fill this gap. We are a globally leading multidisciplinary research institute of 700 staff investigating the spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders causing dementia, with laboratory-based research groups located at University College London, the University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, Edinburgh University, Imperial College London and King's College London. Cambridge Developing new treatments that can prevent the onset of dementia or protect neurons from damage is hindered by our lack of knowledge in the fundamental causes and mechanisms behind neurodegeneration. Scientists at the UK DRI at Cambridge use cutting-edge approaches to build our understanding of the biological processes behind the earliest stages of neurodegeneration and ageing. They explore mechanisms causing the loss of vital connections between neurons and the pathways that drive repair of these connections, which are essential for memory formation and survival of brain cells and identify key molecular targets for translation into effective treatments to stop, slow or reverse dementia. Dr Maura Malpetti is looking for an enthusiastic Post-Doctoral Research Associate to join her lab at the Cambridge University Department of Clinical Neurosciences. The post is part of a Cambridge-based program aiming to investigate inflammation in frontotemporal dementia and accelerate the development of treatments for dementia. To this end, we recently established a multi-centre study, the UK-wide Open Network for Frontotemporal dementia Inflammation Research (ON-FIRE), which involves data collection from 22 sites across the UK.

As a Post-Doctoral Research Associate, you will lead the statistical analysis and data management for multivariate biomarkers identified using novel biochemical assays including SIMOA, NULISA, Mass Spectrometry, multiomics and other data generating platforms. The role will involve computational analyses of blood-derived data - not wet-lab analyses on the samples - and leading academic and industry partners including biochemical laboratory facilities such as the Biomarker Factory at the Dementia Research Institute. The postholder will develop pipelines to (i) centralise adjunct data from all sites to Cambridge; (ii) combine multimodal data, linking blood samples to NHS digital records, genetics and available neuroimages; (iii) format and share data through the Dementias Platform UK data portal. You will lead computational analyses on biomarkers data, polygenic risk score calculations, and immunophenotyping data. You will drive the project, develop and deliver the study's research objectives and be well equipped to present developments and key findings to relevant stakeholders.

How to apply: https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49134/

Further Information

For this post, you will have an undergraduate and/or a PhD in Bioinformatics, Statistics or related discipline. You will have in-depth of knowledge of biostatistics, and related research methods and applications. Experience with machine learning algorithms and strong programming skills using platforms such as MATLAB, R, Bash and Python will be essential.

Contact Details

For informal inquiries regarding the role, contact Dr Maura Malpetti (mm2243@medschl.cam.ac.uk).