WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• We are seeking to employ a highly motivated full-time Postdoctoral Research Associate with a PhD in biological sciences or a closely related discipline with extensive experience in working with epithelial cell cultures especially with ALI and with practical experience in a broad range of cell and molecular techniques.
• Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as a Research Assistant within the salary range £43,003 - £46,297 per annum
• It is essential that the candidate is able to multi-task. This includes correlation of data with clinical and exposure data and planning, managing experiments and leading discussion of analysis with mass-spectroscopy and DNA methylation teams at Duke University.
• You should demonstrate good written and verbal communication skills, analytical and problem-solving ability. Knowledge of data management and statistical analysis would be an advantage.

AVAILABLE DOCUMENTS

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Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities mentioned above.
We reserve the right to close the advert prior to the closing date stated should we receive a high volume of applications. It is therefore advisable that you submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
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ABOUT THE ROLE

Specialized Pro-resolving Mediators in Response to Air Pollution Exposure among Asthmatic versus Healthy Adults’
This project is an NIEHS- funded project that investigates the role of specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) in the respiratory tract of asthmatic and non-asthmatic subjects in the resolution of PM2.5-induced inflammation. This project is in collaboration with Professor Jim Zhang of the Environmental Sciences Department of Duke University.

WHAT YOU WOULD BE DOING

The post holder will use nasal epithelial cells and bronchial epithelial cells that have already been collected in a previous study (INHALE) to conduct ex-vivo PM2.5 exposure studies on these epithelial cells maintained in culture. These cells have already been obtained from healthy volunteers and from participants suffering from asthma. Various outputs will be measured including cytokine expression, SPMs release and aspects of mitochondrial function and underlying energetics using the Seahorse Platform. Data collected from these cells will then be associated with the clinical and physiologic profiles of these participants.
All this cellular data together with other data collected from these participants will be used to develop models of the impact of pollution on personal health in both outdoor and indoor urban environments by integrating across biological length scales. The ultimate objective of this research is to determine whether these data can help us determine the susceptibility of an individual to the effects of environmental pollution on their respiratory system.