Postdoc position at University of Cambridge – Bioimage Analysis / Embryo Patterning

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in the group of Dr Erik Clark at the Department of Genetics in central Cambridge. We are looking for a talented and enthusiastic individual to join a small interdisciplinary team investigating the robust patterning of the early Drosophila embryo. We envision the role as being mainly computational, but the scope is flexible and imaging specialists of all backgrounds are very welcome to apply.

Your primary responsibility will be to rigorously quantify and analyse spatiotemporal patterns of gene expression from various imaging datasets generated by the lab. This will involve developing bioimage analysis pipelines for fixed and live data, processing and curating large datasets, and exploring/interrogating the resulting measurements using appropriate statistical analyses and visualisations. Depending on your skills and interests, you may also get involved with designing and performing wet-lab experiments, optimising and acquiring imaging data, or creating mathematical models and simulations. You will also contribute generally to the research group by regularly presenting and discussing research, helping to train and supervise students, and working towards scientific publications.

You should be comfortable working with biological data using a programming language such as Python. Ideally, you will already have a solid practical and theoretical knowledge of microscopy and image analysis, plus an interest in developmental gene regulation and patterning. Previous experience investigating gene expression in the early Drosophila embryo would of course be very useful. However, we will support you to develop your skills and knowledge over the course of the project, so your capacity for self-directed learning is more important than the specific topic of your PhD. We will provide you with a supportive and stimulating research network, significant investment in skills training, and continuous professional development. This is an ideal opportunity for a motivated scientist wishing to tackle a fundamental biological problem within a world-class research environment.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years in the first instance.