Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Arthropod Genetics Group : Woking, United Kingdom

JOB TITLE: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Arthropod Genetics Group
POST REF: 16P-28
SALARY: £32,200 – £34,929 per annum

The Pirbright Institute is a unique national centre that works through its highly innovative fundamental and applied bioscience to enhance the UK capability to contain, control, and eliminate viral diseases of animals and viruses that spread from animals to humans. We thereby support the competitiveness of UK livestock and poultry producers, and improve the health and quality of life of both animals and people.

The Pirbright Institute is situated in Pirbright, Surrey.

LOCATION
This post is based at Pirbright.

PURPOSE 
This position is funded through a Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award to an international consortium comprising research groups in the UK, Estonia, Malaysia and Australia, led by Prof Alphey at Pirbright, entitled “Genetic approaches to reducing vector competence of Aedes aegypti for Chikungunya virus”.

Insect synthetic biologists are beginning to develop the technical ability to manipulate wild populations by introgressing into them synthetic genes and traits (gene introgression refers to the introduction and perhaps spread of a gene into a target population). There are a several potentially interesting candidate traits for such an approach, including reduced-vector-competence (reduced ability to transmit a pathogen, for example dengue or chikungunya viruses), or reduced-fitness (leading to suppression or elimination of the target population).

Dengue, chikunguya and other arboviral diseases impose significant morbidity and mortality. In few cases licensed drugs or vaccines are available. However, the dependence of these viruses on specific mosquito species, combined with recent advances in mosquito synthetic biology, potentially provides new approaches. We will engineer the major vector mosquito Aedes aegypti to reduce its ability to transmit viruses. We focus on chikungunya virus, which is rapidly becoming a global threat, though successful development would be significant for a much wider range of viruses. We will pursue three approaches in parallel (i) to mitigate the risk that one of these ambitious approaches may not fully achieve its design goals; (ii) to provide multiple independent means to interfere with virus transmission, which in combination would greatly reduce the possibility of virus escape mutants. Two of these approaches aim to make mosquito cells more resistant to incoming viruses, (exploiting RNAi and super-infection exclusion mechanisms, respectively), the other aims to kill cells on infection so that they are unable to support virus transmission. Each of these approaches is inspired by natural anti-virus defence mechanisms and uses components and designs based on our strong collective track record in molecular virology and mosquito synthetic biology.

ORGANISATION POSITION
The post-holder will report to Dr Rennos Fragkoudis (Fellow in Arbovirus Pathogenesis) with day-to-day supervision from Dr Fragkoudis and the senior postdoc employed on this project. The post-holder will be expected to play a key role in training and supervising less experienced members of the Group, including technicians and students whether directly engaged in this specific project or on other projects in the Group, in project management, and in reporting to the funding agency and other stakeholders as required. The post-holder will also be expected to help maintain and strengthen the Group's collaborative links with the other consortium members and other research groups both nationally and internationally.

Main duties and responsibilities
The successful applicant's work will assess the three different approaches that will be utilised to reduce the ability of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to transmit CHIKV initially in vitro in mosquito-derived cell lines and subsequently in vivo in transgenic mosquitoes generated through the project. Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

· Designing, carrying out and analysing in vitro experiments to characterise novel approaches to inhibit chikungunya virus replication (ACDP3 pathogen). Protocols will be established using a model alphavirus (Semliki Forest virus) at lower containment level (ACDP2).
· Designing, carrying out and analysing in vivo infection studies in transgenic mosquitoes with chikungunya and other arboviruses
· Assisting in rearing and colony maintenance of transgenic mosquitoes
· Drafting manuscripts for publication in high-impact, peer-reviewed international scientific journals. 
· Communicating progress and data, including reporting progress to the consortium and funding agency as required and preparing manuscripts for publication
· Supervision of students and staff
· Project management and coordination with other consortium members

This job description is only an outline of the tasks, responsibilities and outcomes required of the role. The jobholder will carry out any other duties as may be reasonably required by his/her line manager. The job description and personal specification may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the Human Resources Division and The Pirbright Institute.

All employees shall actively participate in the Institute- wide quality assurance system in conjunction with the Institute's Quality Manager. Employees are also expected to safeguard their own health and safety and security by following policies and all employees are responsible for the Health and Safety and security of staff under their management.

BENEFITS OF THE POST 
The post is graded at Band D and is a fixed-term contract with funding for up to five years. The salary is £32,200 to £34,929 per annum depending on qualifications and experience. This is a full time role of 37 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

Pension
Qualifying staff will automatically be enrolled into the Pirbright Institute Group Personal Pension Scheme (subject to age and earnings) which is administered by Aviva. This is a salary exchange scheme. Those staff who do not immediately qualify will be given an opportunity to opt into the scheme. Shortly after commencing employment members of staff that have been auto-enrolled will receive separate information outlining the options open to them and the scheme details. This will be sent from the pension provider. The Institute does not make contributions to other personal pension schemes.

Annual leave is 25 days on appointment plus 10.5 days public and privilege days. The Institute has a subsidised child care scheme, staff restaurant and free parking.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

· Any offer of employment will be subject to security screening, health clearance, receipt of satisfactory references, and continued right to work and remain in the UK.

· The Institute is engaged in Research work on a number of viral diseases of livestock, several of which are highly infectious to livestock, compliance with the Disease Security Regulations is an essential requirement of employment. Where disease agents of birds and other domestic animals are being studied specific restrictions to contact with these species may apply off site/ at home. Such restrictions will be applied on a case by case basis subject to on the individual's work portfolio and access to relevant facility areas. In case of poultry and horses it may require 3-5 days of no contact after handling/having contact with these pathogens and materials potentially carrying these agents.

· For those applicants where English is not their first language, please note that the successful applicant must be able to prove their ability to communicate in English. The required standard for the Pirbright Institute has been set as an overall mark of 7.0 in the IELTS qualification (with no lower than 7.0 for listening and reading, no lower than 6.5 for speaking and no lower than 6.0 for writing) or the equivalent in an alternative qualification

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