PostdoctoralResearchAssistant

School of Medicine Full-time/ Fixed-Term

Grade 7 (£36,024 - £39,347)

We are recruiting for an exceptional individual to join us as Postdoctoral Research Assistant within our Division of Systems Medicine. The successful candidate will work within the Consortium Against Pain Inequalities (CAPE) to explore the relationship between early life adversity, chronic pain, and responses to treatment with a focus on opioid analgesics. CAPE is funded by the UKRI, Versus Arthritis and Eli Lily as part of the Advanced Pain Discovery Platform (APDP). The work will seek mechanisms that may contribute to vulnerability or resilience to pain and rapidly escalating opioid prescribing, addiction, and associated deaths.

Working with the group led by Prof Tim Hales, the successful candidate will contribute to a team of researchers using molecular techniques, functional assays, health informatics and bioinformatics to explore how exposure of children to early life adversity causes epigenetic changes that may lead to altered pain resilience and responses to opioid analgesics in later life.

This is a fixed-term appointment for 19 months with the possibility of extension.

Your priorities will include:

• Play a lead role in establishing the research project.
• Undertake a range of studies to establish the relationship between early life experiences, pain and opioid use.
• Lead a project investigating whether epigenetic profiles predict vulnerability to chronic pain in those exposed to multiple adverse childhood experiences.
• Work with other members of the CAPE research group to analyse data and write research articles.
• Prepare progress reports for presentation at CAPE meetings and at conferences.
• Lead CAPE's outreach through engagement with social media.

We are looking for someone:

• With a BSc and a PhD in a biological, biomedical, physics, chemistry or mathematical subject.
• Who has made a major contribution to publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• With extensive scientific background in biomedical science.
• Familiar with large datasets and statistical methods.
• With advanced quantitative analytical skills.
• Proficient in public outreach and the ability to explain complex science clearly to a lay audience.
• Willing to work on projects as part of a team.
• Familiar with social media and creating a web-presence to enhance CAPE's visibility and impact.

The University of Dundee is a signatory of the Researcher Development Concordat and is committed to enhancing the research environment and culture. Engagement and support of activities which assist the researcher development agenda at the University is therefore essential.

For further information about this position please contact Prof Tim Hales (t.g.hales@dundee.ac.uk).

The diversity of our staff and students helps to make the University of Dundee a UK university of choice for undergraduate, postgraduate and distance learning. Family friendly policies, staff networks for BME, Disabled and LGBT staff, membership of Athena SWAN, the ECU Race Equality Charter and Stonewall as well a full range of disability services, create an enjoyable and inclusive place to work.