The mission of the UCL GOS Institute of Child Health is to maximise and advocate for the holistic health of all children, young people and the adults they will become, through world-class research, education and public engagement. The UCL GOS ICH, together with its clinical partner Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, forms the largest concentration of children’s health research outside North America. The 2024-29 GOS ICH strategy focuses on its five scientific programmes. GOS ICH’s activities include active engagement with children and families, to ensure that our work is relevant and appropriate to their needs. GOS ICH generates the funding for our research by setting out our proposals in high quality applications to public, charitable and industrial funding bodies and disseminates the results of our research by publication in the medical and scientific literature, to clinicians, policy makers and the wider public. The Institute offers world-class education and training across a wide range of teaching and life learning programmes which address the needs of students and professional groups who are interested in and undertaking work relevant to child health. GOS ICH holds an Athena SWAN Charter Gold Award.

About the role

We are seeking Research Assistant to contribute to an experimental programme investigating skeletal muscle responses to mechanical and metabolic stress. The postholder will be responsible for conducting and supporting animal studies including surgical procedures, animal monitoring, endpoint assessments, tissue collection and processing. The role will also involve a range of histological and molecular analyses, including tissue sectioning and staining, RT-qPCR, ELISA and RNAscope. The postholder will analyse experimental data and undertake statistical analyses under the supervision of the research team. Post is available for one year in the first instance from 1/12/26.

About you

The successful candidate will have an MSc in a relevant biological or biomedical science and experience of working in a research laboratory. Previous experience of animal experimentation, particularly mouse handling and tissue collection, and/or molecular or histological techniques would be highly desirable. You will be organised, reliable and meticulous, with the ability to follow experimental protocols accurately and maintain high standards of record keeping and data quality. You will be able to work independently while also contributing effectively as part of a multidisciplinary research team. A willingness to learn new techniques, good analytical skills and a genuine interest in skeletal muscle biology and experimental research are essential.

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below: • 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days) • Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme • Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE) • Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan • Immigration loan • Relocation scheme for certain posts • On-Site nursery • On-site gym • Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay • Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service • Discounted medical insurance Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/ If you have any queries regarding the application process, please contact Madhur Sharma on ich.hr@ucl.ac.uk quoting job reference