ABOUT US

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.

There are several inherited metabolic disorders that affect the lysine catabolic pathway e.g. the vitamin B6-responsive epilepsy disorder ALDH7A1-deficiency. These disorders result in an accumulation of metabolites which are thought to be toxic to the body and in the case of ALDH7A1-deficiency result in neurodevelopmental delay. Dietary interventions aimed at reducing the amount of lysine and therefore the levels of these neurotoxic metabolites in patients with these metabolic disorders have been trialed however there has been limited efficacy. The successful applicant will work on a wet lab-based study evaluating the effect of RNA therapies for treatment of these disorders. This project is part-time (0.5 FTE) to cover maternity leave. This post is available for UCL Staff only.