Clinical Research Fellow in Paediatric Surgery

at  University College London

ABOUT US

Our mission 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. The NIHR GOSH BRC is a partnership between GOSH and UCL GOS-ICH. GOSH and GOS-ICH were first awarded BRC status by the NIHR in 2007. In July 2022, the NIHR awarded BRC status to the GOSH BRC for a fourth term, which runs from December 2022 to November 2027. In this fourth term, as part of a wider national collaboration - a BRC National Paediatric Excellence Initiative has been set up between GOSH BRC and children’s hospitals in Birmingham, Sheffield and Liverpool. GOSH BRC’s aim is to transform the health of children, and the adults they will become, by combining cutting edge research methods with world-leading clinical trial expertise, to accelerate discovery of new treatments for children with rare and complex conditions.

We are looking to appoint an enthusiastic Clinical Research Fellow in Paediatric Surgery who will work on an exciting project to develop novel strategies to generate a vascularised intestinal graft by utilising patient-derived organoids, stromal cells and scaffolds alongside modified vascular endothelial cells. Regenerative medicine approaches, combining stem cell biology, material science and tissue engineering, offer a viable alternative therapeutic solution in the treatment of short bowel syndrome (SBS). Whilst SBS is relatively rare (0.35 in 10,000 people (Massironi et al. 2020)), it is increasing in prevalence and the substantial lifetime morbidity and long-term economic costs, both to affected children and their families, are significant (Arhip et al. 2021). Furthermore, extensive intestinal loss, leading to SBS, arises as a sequela of several co-morbid conditions, such as necrotising enterocolitis from extreme prematurity and inflammatory bowel disease, which also have notable long-term multi-morbidity. The successful candidate will join a vibrant and multidisciplinary lab working with Professor Paolo De Coppi This is a part-time position funding up to 50%FTE to be dedicated to research and is available from 1st April 2025 for 12 months in the first instance. This post is funded by the NIHR GOSH Biomedical Research Centre and will contribute to the delivery of key aims of the Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine theme, co-led by Professors Jane Sowden and Paolo De Coppi