Junior Islet Cell Scientist

at  Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

The King’s Cell Isolation Unit was established in 2001 to prepare human cells from donor organs under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) conditions for clinical use. It is one of only 3 such laboratories in the UK that are approved by the Human Tissue Authority to provide islets for clinical use. Islets of Langerhans are clusters of cells located in pancreas, termed pancreatic endocrine cells. These regulate human blood glucose levels in health. Patients with type 1 diabetes have lost these cells due to an auto-immune process, and have to use insulin injections.
Our lab is on-call 1 week in two to take donor pancreas and isolate the islets from them for clinical use. If the cells are not suitable for clinical transplantation, but the donor has provided research ethics, these cells can be used for research.
The process of isolation of islets is complex, taking between 5 – 8 hours working in a highly regulated environment according to detailed standard operating procedures. There is a lot of work required in maintaining the islet isolation laboratory to the precise standards required. Particular attention is given to precise record keeping, maintaining sterility and environmental monitoring.
The successful candidate will be required to demonstrate experience in tissue culture techniques, knowledge of current UK Human Tissue Act and good communication skills. The ability to work flexibly such as unsocial hours (anytime during the day, night or weekend) is essential as the availability of human pancreas organs for human islets transplantation is unpredictable. The post holder is expected to assist in islet isolation based on one week on-call for every two weeks. Hours worked overtime will be taken as time-in-lieu in non-oncall week
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King’s to another level.
We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.
King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.
The main responsibility of the post holder is to assist in the isolation of human islets to GMP standards for clinical and research uses. The other responsibilities are to share with the Hepatocyte Isolation Team the day to day running of the Cell Isolation Unit for isolation of human cells. The duties will include monitoring the performance of the laboratory, maintaining supplies of reagents and necessary equipment.
1. Assist in the isolation of human pancreatic islets of Langerhans for clinical cell transplantation and for research.
2. Share the responsibility for the day-to-day running of the Cell Isolation Unit, including environmental monitoring of air pressures and flows and microbiological contamination testing as required for the licensed laboratory by HTA Authority.
3. Responsible for provision of sterile reagents and equipment for isolation of human islet cells in the Cell Isolation Unit.
4. Responsible for maintaining supplies of consumables required for islet cell isolation and looking after the stock reagents for islet isolation.
5. Perform research in evaluation of the quality and quantity of islet cell or surrogate islet cells to enhance the understanding of human cell transplantation

Please refer the Job description for details