Postdoctoral Research Associate in Systems Medicine

About Us

King's College London (KCL) is one of the world's leading research universities, renowned for its excellence in education, groundbreaking research, and innovation. Our Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine (FoLSM) is dedicated to pushing the frontiers of medical science to improve healthcare outcomes. Within FoLSM, the School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences (SIMS) plays a key role in research and education, with a focus on understanding the mechanisms of disease and developing new therapies.

This role is located within the prestigious Roger Williams Institute of Liver Studies, where our researchers are at the forefront of liver disease research. As part of this vibrant academic environment, you will join the Zhang group, an innovative research team at the intersection of systems medicine, bioinformatics, and liver disease. Based at the James Black Center, Denmark Hill campus, our team works on understanding and modeling metabolic and inflammatory processes that drive liver disease progression. We are dedicated to advancing scientific knowledge and translating our research into real-world medical solutions, offering a dynamic and collaborative setting for cutting-edge research.

About The Role

We are seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to join a multi-disciplinary research group led by Dr N.Safinia and Prof. A.Sanchez-Fueyo at King's College London's Roger Williams Institute of Liver Studies. This role offers a unique opportunity to contribute to innovative research at the forefront of systems medicine, focusing on the progression of liver cancer and immune mediated liver damage. The successful candidate will work within a multidisciplinary team to unravel the metabolic drivers of HCC biology and transplant rejection through cutting-edge spatial multi-omics and computational metabolic modeling.

The role involves developing and implementing computational methods to integrate single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and metallomics data. Using advanced techniques such as MALDI-MSI metabolic profiling and enzyme-constrained GEMs, the candidate will generate region-specific models to predict metabolic fluxes associated with liver disease. This research will provide key insights into the metabolic alterations driving T cell function within the liver microenvironment in various liver diseases, including transplant rejection and cancer, with the ultimate goal of contributing to the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

The post is based at the James Black Centre, Denmark Hill campus, and the candidate will report directly to Dr. N.Safinia and Prof. A.Sanchez-Fueyo. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with clinicians, computational biologists, and experimentalists, ensuring that computational models are seamlessly integrated with experimental data. Responsibilities also include the supervision of junior researchers and the preparation of high-impact research publications.

This role is ideal for individuals with expertise in systems biology, bioinformatics, and multi-omics data analysis, who are eager to make significant contributions to the field of liver disease research. This is a fixed-term position for 2 years,providing an exciting opportunity to be part of a dynamic and forward-thinking research group.

This is a full time 35 hours per week, and you will be offered a fixed-term contract until 14 January 2028 .

Research staff at King's are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers , applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

• PhD qualified in relevant subject area (or pending results).
• Strong programming skills with proficiency in Python, R, and tools relevant to multi-omics data analysis (e.g., CellRanger, GECKO, tINIT)
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, manage time effectively, and meet competing deadlines in a dynamic research environment
• Experience in analyzing large-scale multi-omics datasets, including transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, using advanced statistical and computational methods
• Familiarity with genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) and familiarity with flux balance analysis or other metabolic flux modeling approaches
• Ability to communicate effectively within a multi-disciplinary team and produce high-quality verbal and written reports and publications

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of liver disease, cancer and/or metabolism
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to develop novel computational methods for data integration and analysis
• Experience with machine learning approaches for biological data modeling and predictive analytics
• Good communication skills and willingness to work within a multi-disciplinary group.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ' How we Recruit ' pages.

We are able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.