Parasite Screening Technician

Drug Discovery Unit, School of Life Sciences

Full Time
Grade 6 (£27,929 – £34,308)

Closing date: 22nd March 2023

The Drug Discovery Unit (DDU, http://www.drugdiscovery.dundee.ac.uk) at the University of Dundee is globally recognised for its scientific excellence and delivery of new candidate drugs for infectious diseases. The DDU comprises over 120 highly skilled and motivated staff, spanning all core drug discovery disciplines and is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

We are currently looking for a highly motivated biologist to be part of the translational parasitology group. The group has established extensive in vitro screening cascades that combine high-throughput hit identification assays with more physiologically relevant secondary assays. The main remit of this post is to perform in vitro parasite screening assays on small-molecule libraries to identify new compounds to enter the drug discovery pipeline. The suite of assays includes both free-living as well as intracellular Trypanosoma cruzi assays.

This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the development of new drugs for highly neglected diseases and to gain experience in cell-based assay screening, including advanced technologies such as high-content imaging assays. The post is available immediately and salary will start from £27,929/year depending on experience. This is an open-ended position. The Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery Division and Drug Discovery Unit operate on an external funding basis and the current funding end date is 30/09/2024.
However, the Principal Investigators within these units are highly successful in securing external funding for their multi-disciplinary and highly collaborative research and activities.

Your responsibilities:

• Culturing kinetoplastid parasites and human host cell lines in a biosafety containment level 3 facility
• Running Trypanosoma cruzi cell-based assays (as well as occasional assays for other parasites such as Leishmania donovani or Trypanosoma brucei)
• Screening and profiling novel compounds
• Working according to all applicable health and safety regulations
• Carrying out data analysis and relevant quality assurance protocols
• Working collaboratively with members of the Drug Discovery Unit and academic or industrial collaborators to support drug discovery programs

Your qualifications:

• A track record of culturing eukaryotic cells and experience with cell viability assays
• A demonstrated ability to work in an organised and meticulous manner and to standard operating procedures is essential
• Ability to work towards deadline and milestones
• Good computer literacy
• An ability to be proactive, productive and to work effectively in teams is required.
• A degree in cell biology, biochemistry, pharmacology or other relevant biological discipline, or equivalent experience
• Interest in parasitology and drug discovery
• Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills
• Experience of culturing parasites in a Bio-Safety Level 3 facility is desirable but not essential, as training will be given.
• Experience with fluorescence microscopy and image analysis is desirable but not essential

For informal discussion about the post please contact Dr Lorna MacLean (l.m.maclean@dundee.ac.uk) (Please do not send applications to this email address).

As an internationally diverse institution, we welcome job applicants from all countries and nationalities. The School of Life Sciences is proud to employ staff from over 40 different nations.

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.