International Association for the Study of Pain

Reporting to Profs Annina Schmid and David Bennett. The post holder is a member of the Neural Injury Group and the Neuromusculoskeletal Health and Science Lab with responsibility for contributing to a multi-lab MRC-funded research project aiming to develop advance humanised pain models. This role is part of a multi-disciplinary team including expertise in cell culturing, electrophysiology, and bioinformatics. The role will be responsible for developing and characterising human dorsal root ganglia cultures to benchmark the newly developed iPSC derived organoid model systems. This will include processing of human DRG and nerve roots with subsequent cellular and molecular analyses looking at alterations in injured vs non injured neural tissues using physiological, molecular and anatomical outcomes. The post holder will also optimise human DRG cultures and perform electrophysiological and functional characterisation. In parallel, the post holder will use the newly developed human induced pluripotent stem cell derived sensory neurons pain models to characterise their validity as well as in vitro excitability including after inducing experimental nerve injury and pharmacological interventions, and relate these to the individual's clinical phenotypes (already available). The post holder provides guidance to less experienced members of the research group, including postdocs, research assistants, technicians, and PhD and project students. The research activities will take place in the state of the art facilities provided by NDCN including access to wet lab space, cell culture and advanced imaging. The Neural Injury Group consists of a multidisciplinary team with expertise ranging from molecular neurobiology to clinical phenotyping. The post is primarily based in NDCN, but there will be meetings and collaborative opportunities as this is a network grant including external collaborators. Selection Criteria Essential Criteria Hold a relevant PhD/DPhil, together with relevant experience in the area of biological research/biomedical engineering Experience with neuronal culture techniques, preferably with human cells (e.g., human DRGs, human induced pluripotent stem cell derived sensory neurons) Experience with electrophysiological recordings and imaging in sensory neurons (e.g., patch clamp, Multi Electrodes Arrays, calcium imaging, confocal imaging) in assessment of neuronal excitability and sensory transduction Experience of imaging of sensory neurons (such as confocal imaging to assess morphology and assessment of calcium flux) Possess sufficient specialist knowledge in the discipline to work within established research programmes Ability to manage own academic research and associated activities Previous experience of contributing to publications/presentations Ability to contribute ideas for new research projects and research income generation Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for publication, present research proposals and results, and represent the research group at meetings Desirable Criteria Experience with human DRG and/or human induced pluripotent stem cell derived sensory neuron cultures Experience of working in the field of sensory physiology and pain Experience of using patient derived iPSCs Experience in transfection/transduction of iPSC derived neurons Experience in assessment of gene expression Experience in assessing mechanosensory currents Experience of independently managing a discrete area of a research project Experience of actively collaborating in the development of research articles for publication