Specialist Pathology Technician

at  Kings College London

Job id: 104065. Salary: £38,232 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.
Posted: 14 January 2025. Closing date: 19 January 2025.
Business unit: Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. Department: Comprehensive Cancer Centre.
Contact details: Jodie Bellamy. Jodie.bellamy@kcl.ac.uk
Location: Guys Campus. Category: Professional & Support Services.
About us
Dr Sheeba Irshad is a medical oncologist with an interest in understanding differences in immune surveillance mechanisms that may drive cancer disparities. The team are part of a global team led by Prof Melissa Davis from Morehouse Medical School, Atlanta who have been awarded the CRUK Grand Challenge for their project entitled SAMBAI. SAMBAI is taking a multi-level, interdisciplinary approach to build the SAMBAI Biobank and Data Repository for Cancer Equity Research, spanning diverse cohorts of African descent from regions of Africa, the UK and the US. This unprecedented resource will enable an integrated set of analyses to define the factors that influence disparate outcomes in these populations. The team will focus on breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers – three cancer types that have a disproportionately higher rate of aggressive tumour grade and early onset in Black people – and aims to deliver a data repository with millions of data features per person for 40,000 people.
About the role
The post holder will practice as a Pathology Research technician, demonstrating expertise ideally in the field of breast pathology in a bio-medical research laboratory setting. The post holder will be expected to lead in the development of novel biomarkers using IHC, ISH and IF methods and critically validate histological findings. It will be essential for the post holder to understand ongoing research projects in the Unit and contribute to them with innovative thinking. The post holder will have knowledge of a broad of routine and research histological techniques; including microtomy, various staining techniques such as immunohistochemistry, IF, ISH, knowledge of novel antibodies validations; also preparation of research tools such as FFPE cell pellets and the construction of tissue microarrays. The post holder will be experienced in DNA and RNA extraction either from fresh frozen FFPE material with or without micro-dissection and quality assessments. Experience would be desirable in digital imaging/image analysis to support Digital Microscopy workstation.
The post holder will be responsible for the management of research histopathology work to ensure smooth delivery of assigned projects and will also be responsible for mentoring the work of other more junior team members. The post holder will supervise histological studies and contribute to a diverse team of specialists working within the team. An understanding of the methodologies that enable combined transcriptome and digital pathology analysis, and the translational significance of this approach is desirable.
This is a full time post (35 Hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31st January 2026.
About you
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

• BSc (Hons) degree or equivalent in a relevant subject
• Skilled to perform routine histology (microtome, cryotomy etc.), and research histopathology work in constructing tissue microarrays (TMA), cell pellets etc.
• Skilled in performing various staining techniques including immunohistochemistry and novel antibodies optimisation, ISH and IF.
• Skilled in DNA/RNA extraction from FFPE and frozen histopathological specimens and associated quality assessment methods.
• Skills in development of new research pathology techniques and critical interpretation of histological findings.
• Knowledge of Human Tissue Act 2004, Data Protection Act and Health & Safety policies
• Experience in communicating with multidisciplinary research and clinical teams.
• Experience of maintaining an accurate log of research activities and ability to manage and prioritise workloads appropriately.
• Experience of presenting information in a verbal or written format to academic and non-academic groups.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge in digital imaging, digital images management software, histological image analysis systems.
• Knowledge of breast histopathology and breast cancer animal models.
• Experience in contributing to publications with writing up materials and methods referring to histological aspects.
• MSc degree or equivalent in a relevant subject
• Expertise in spatial phenotyping multiplexed imaging platforms.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description
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.
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.
Interview date is to be confirmed after shortlisting

Please refer the Job description for details