Postdoctoral Fellow- Studying tissue immunity in chronic kidney disease
Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges. We are looking to appoint a highly motivated postdoctoral fellow to join Clatworthy lab at our Cellular Genetics Programme for a fixed term contract until 10th January 2025. About the role: You will be working on an exciting collaborative project with colleagues at Astra-Zeneca studying tissue immunity in chronic kidney disease (CKD). CKD affects more than 500 million people worldwide, with significant health, social and economic impact, yet therapies to halt or prevent disease are scarce. We will be using multimodal single-cell and spatial transcriptomic datasets of human kidney samples with CKD to gain insights into the molecular pathways driving disease progression, with the ultimate aim of identifying novel therapeutic strategies. You will be responsible for: Your position will be in the Clatworthy lab, where you will study human kidney immunity in health and CKD. You will interact with other groups within Cellular Genetics, particularly the Teichmann Lab. You will take the scientific lead of this project, overseeing sample progression, data generation, as well as applying and developing tools to analyse and integrate multimodal single-cell datasets and study cell-cell communication. This project will involve close collaboration with Prof Clatworthy and clinician scientists within the group to interpret the data, including attending lab meetings with Prof Clatworthy’s University of Cambridge group on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. About us: Our research is focused on understanding what type of immune cells live within different organs in humans, and how the special environment within each tissues affects their function. We are particularly interested in the kidney and urinary tract. This research will contribute to our broader effort to understand the human kidney, as part of the Human Cell Atlas initiative, which has set out to create a comprehensive reference map of all human cells as the basis for understanding human health and diagnosing, monitoring and treating disease. https://www.sanger.ac.uk/group/clatworthy-group/. Prof Clatworthy also has a lab based at the nearby University of Cambridge, on the biomedical campus where we process human tissues for single cell projects and have a whole suite of functional validation pipelines, including in vitro, organoid and murine models. http://www.med.cam.ac.uk/clatworthy/ About you You have experience working with bioinformatics and genomics. We strongly encourage applications of postdoctoral candidates interested in modelling cell-cell communication. You will be part of a vibrant international Postdoctoral Fellow community at the Sanger Institute with a wide programme of transferable skills, training and excellent career development opportunities. For more information about being a Postdoctoral Fellow - please visit: https://youtu.be/1-vxm2nBmFA Essential Skills: PhD in systems immunology, bioinformatics, or related discipline Evidence of good productivity through publications Knowledge of statistics Knowledge of R or Python applied to image and data analysis. Excellent communication, organisational and presentation skills Excellent problem solving and troubleshooting skills Ability to work independently and organize own workload Ability to organize, plan and prioritize tasks or projects Demonstrate good networking, influencing and relationship building skills Ability to communicate ideas and results effectively Demonstrates inclusivity and respect for all Ability to build collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders Desirable Skills: Experience modelling cell-cell interactions Other information: For relevant publications of the team associated to this work, please, see: Richoz N, Tuong ZK, Loudon KW, Patiño-Martínez E, Ferdinand JR, Portet A, Bashant KR, Thevenon E, Rucci F, Hoyler T, Junt T, Kaplan MJ, Siegel RM, Clatworthy MR. Distinct pathogenic roles for resident and monocyte-derived macrophages in lupus nephritis. JCI Insights. 2022 Nov 8;7(21):e159751. Stewart BJ, Ferdinand JR, Clatworthy MR. Using single-cell technologies to map the human immune system - implications for nephrology. Nat Rev Nephrol. 2020;16(2):112-128 Stewart BS, Ferdinand JR, Young MD, Mitchell TJ, Loudon KW, Riding AM, Richoz N, Frazer GL, Staniforth JU, Vieira Braga FA, Botting R, Popescu DM, Vento-Tormo R, Stephenson E, Cagan A, Farndon SJ, Polanski K, Efremova M, Green K, Velasco-Herrera M, Guzzo C, CollorD G, Mamanova L, Aho T, Armitage JN, Riddick AC, Mushtaq I, Farrell S, Rampling D, Nicholson J, Filby A, Burge J, Lisgo S, Lindsay S, Bajenoff M, Warren AY, Stewart GD, Sebire N, Coleman N, Haniffa M*, Teichmann SA*, Behjati S*, Clatworthy MR*. Spatio-temporal immune zonation of the human kidney. Science 2019;365(6460):1461-1466. Salary per annum: £35,707-£44,712 Application Process: Please apply with your CV and a cover letter outlining how you meet the criteria set out above. Closing Date: 3rd May 2023 Working at Wellcome Sanger: Our flexible-hybrid working environment is designed to support a healthy work-life balance. This means you can work flexibly with a combination of working from home, and working from our Campus to allow you to focus on being productive and part of the team while enjoying the benefits of working flexibly. We aim to attract, recruit, retain and develop talent from the widest possible talent pool, thereby gaining insight and access to different markets to generate a greater impact on the world. We have a supportive culture with the following staff networks, LGBTQ+, Parents and Carers and Race Equity to bring people together to share experiences, offer specific support and development opportunities and raise awareness. The networks are also a place for allies to provide support to others. We want our people to be whoever they want to be because we believe people who bring their best selves to work, do their best work. That’s why we’re committed to creating a truly inclusive culture at Sanger Institute. We will consider all individuals without discrimination and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, where everyone can thrive. Our Benefits: We are proud to deliver an awarding campus-wide employee wellbeing strategy and programme. The importance of good health and adopting a healthier lifestyle and the commitment to reduce work-related stress is strongly acknowledged and recognised at Sanger Institute. Life at the Sanger Institute is unique. We are tackling some of the most difficult challenges in genomic research. Our people are shaping the future by delivering life-changing science with the reach, scale, and creativity to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges. We aim to attract, recruit, retain and develop talent from the widest possible talent pool, thereby gaining insight and access to different markets to generate a greater impact on the world.
