Postdoctoral Project Research Scientist (PPRS)

Postdoctoral Project Research Scientist (PPRS)

About us…
The Francis Crick Institute is Europe’s largest biomedical research institute under one roof. Our world-class scientists and staff collaborate on vital research to help prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative conditions.

The Crick is a place for collaboration, innovation and exploration across many disciplines. A space where the brightest minds can pursue big and bold ideas and discover answers to crucial scientific questions. We support them in a dynamic environment which fosters excellence with state-of-the-art infrastructure, cutting-edge facilities, and a creative and curious culture. We’ve removed traditional boundaries of departments, divisions and disciplines and instead have an open approach that supports every researcher. This gives us the freedom to collaborate and carry out high-quality, pioneering research. Creating a space for discovery without boundaries helps us to turn our science into benefits for human health and the economy.

About the role…
The Miguel-Aliaga lab seek to understand how organs sense and react to their environment to maintain or change our physiology. To this end, they focus on the study of the intestinal tract; certain diets, microbes or internal states can cause it to grow or shrink. Current projects explore this plasticity across scales.

Following previous work on the role that the shape of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays in health and disease in the fruit fly, we are now working on extending this work into analysis of human GI tract shape. We have adapted our methods to analyse GI tract shape in abdominal MRI scans and now wish to scale this up to a larger dataset. We have an approved project to work with the data of the UK Biobank – a large-scale biomedical database of volunteers from across the UK. This includes genetic data and whole-body MRI scans for 100,000 participants. We aim to investigate whether in humans, there is an underlying logic to GI tract shape and 3D organ arrangement which might vary in males and females, post-pregnancy and in disease such as Crohn’s disease.

We are looking for an ambitious and experienced image analyst for this computational post to develop AI-based image analysis methods to extract GI tract shape data from whole-body MRI scans.

What you will be doing…
As a PPRS at the Crick, you will be:
Developing image analysis tools for analysis of GI tract shape and volume from MRI scans
Developing a neural network for the automation of segmentation of the GI tract from UK Biobank whole-body MRI scans
Liaising with other lab members and collaborators to link analysis of GI tract shape features with other phenotype data and genetics in the UK Biobank
Contributing to the preparation of scientific manuscripts, reports and presentations

About you…
The essential criteria you will bring…
PhD in Developmental Biology, Cell Biology, Computational Biology or in the final stages of PhD submission
Strong level of competence and experience of the use of deep learning for image analysis in large datasets, particularly image segmentation
Strong level of competence in writing macros for ImageJ/FIJI and use of other languages such as R and Python for image analysis
Experience of working with large 3D datasets such as MRI scans or microCT scans
Experience of image segmentation
Track record of writing papers as evidenced by publications or submitted manuscripts in refereed journals
Evidence of data presentation at scientific meetings

About Working at the Crick…
Our values
Everyone who works at the Crick has a valuable role to play in advancing the Crick’s mission and shaping our culture!
We are bold. We make space for creative, dynamic and imaginative ideas and approaches. We’re not afraid to do things differently.
We are open. We’re highly collaborative and interactive, and make sure our activities are visible to the outside world.
We are collegial. We show respect for one another, work cooperatively and support the wider community.

At the Francis Crick Institute, we believe that diversity and inclusion are essential to driving innovation and scientific discovery. We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to succeed, regardless of their background, identity, or personal circumstances. We actively encourage applications from individuals of all genders, ethnicities, abilities, and experiences. We are a Disability Confident: Committed employer and you will be asked as part of the process if you wish to apply under the scheme. We will make reasonable adjustments if you need them. If you need assistance with applying (i.e., would like to apply by phone or post) please email:

Please note that interviews for this role will take place from 02/07/25.

#J-18808-Ljbffr