Address
Form of work
Salary2-year fixed term contract/full time
The MHRA is transforming. Through enabling innovation, making the right judgements of the benefits and risks of medical products and forging the right partnerships in the UK and internationally, it aims to deliver world class regulation and improved outcomes for UK patients.
We are currently looking for an experienced Scientist to join our Science, Research & Innovation group. Within a week of working here, your day could look like this: leading research and development programs aimed at improving methods and analytical algorithms to analyse polio vaccines and detect and characterize polio and non-polio enteroviruses, as well as other viruses associated with human disease such as SARS-CoV-2, from surveillance activities with a special focus on direct detection and next generation sequencing analysis of viral genomes using Illumina and Nanopore technology; using and developing bioinformatics pipelines for the analysis of vial sequences generated from surveillance activities and molecular analysis of polio vaccines; leading training and implementation activities in WHO laboratories around the world on the molecular identification and characterization of viral genomes from clinical and environmental samples using next generation sequencing methods to expand capacity, increase demand and generate further data on performance; and engaging with national and international external stakeholders, regulatory agencies, vaccine manufacturers and academic institutes to deliver expert services, training, scientific and technical advice to support the statutory functions.
The successful candidate will have a PhD in a relevant field, or equivalent experience with evidence of R&D.
In addition, you will have experience with statistical analysis and interpreting results derived from large complex data sets, including complex sequencing data from next generation sequencing, generating clear reports and scientific manuscripts, be highly skilled in deep sequencing analysis particularly in methods using direct detection of viral sequences from clinical and environmental samples using Nanopore and Illumina technology, and have excellent understanding of bioinformatics analysis of nucleic acid sequences using both command line and specialised software.
Closing date: 16th February 2024
