Research Assistant in Experimental Evolution

The University of Manchester

Manchester

11 months ago

Applications closed

Related Jobs

View all jobs

European Innovation Lead – NPD

Research programme manager

Data science programme lead

Head of Programme Delivery

Contract and Proposals Specialist

Microbiologist

The Brockhurst Lab group within the Division of Evolution, Infection and Genomics wishes to appoint a laboratory-based Research Assistant to an exciting project exploring how defence systems and mobile genetic elements jointly control long-term dynamics of bacterial genome evolution.

ECOEVOGENOME is a 5-year project awarded to Professor Michael Brockhurst by the European Research Council Advanced Grants programme and funded by EPSRC. The project combines long-term experimental evolution with genomics and genetic engineering to reveal the mechanistic bases of adaptation and genomic divergence during 10,000 generations.

During this position, the post-holder will work within a team of researchers to deliver evolution experiments and use high-throughput phenotyping, genomics and genetic engineering to understand the mechanisms of genome evolution. The postholder will join a dynamic lab group with access to state-of-the-art lab and computational facilities and be a member of the MERMan research cluster of more than 100 researchers working in microbial ecology and evolution.

What you will get in return:

Fantastic market leading Pension scheme Excellent employee health and wellbeing services including an Employee Assistance Programme Exceptional starting annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays Additional paid closure over the Christmas period Local and national discounts at a range of major retailers

Subscribe to Future Tech Insights for the latest jobs & insights, direct to your inbox.

Industry Insights

Discover insightful articles, industry insights, expert tips, and curated resources.

Jan 18, 2026

Jobs Careers

Biotechnology Jobs for Career Switchers in Their 30s, 40s & 50s (UK Reality Check)

Biotechnology is often portrayed as a young person’s game. White lab coats, fresh PhDs & long academic pipelines dominate the image. In reality, the UK biotechnology sector relies heavily on career switchers, mid-career professionals & people bringing experience from outside science. If you are in your 30s, 40s or 50s & thinking about moving into biotechnology, this article gives you a clear-eyed, UK-specific reality check. No hype. No Americanised career myths. Just an honest look at which biotech jobs are realistic, what retraining actually involves & how employers really think about age & background.

Jan 13, 2026

Jobs

How to Write a Biotechnology Job Ad That Attracts the Right People

Biotechnology is one of the UK’s most diverse and fast-moving sectors. From biopharma and diagnostics to industrial biotech, medtech and life sciences research, employers are competing for highly specialised talent with scarce, in-demand skills. Yet many biotechnology employers struggle with the same problem: job adverts that attract the wrong candidates. Roles are often flooded with unsuitable applications, while highly qualified scientists, engineers and regulatory professionals either do not apply or disengage early in the process. In most cases, the issue is not the talent pool — it is the job advert itself. Biotechnology professionals are trained to think critically, assess evidence and understand context. If a job ad is vague, inflated or poorly targeted, it signals a lack of clarity and credibility — and strong candidates simply move on. This guide explains how to write a biotechnology job ad that attracts the right people, improves applicant quality and positions your organisation as a serious, trustworthy employer in the life sciences sector.

Jan 5, 2026

Jobs Education

Maths for Biotech Jobs: The Only Topics You Actually Need (& How to Learn Them)

Biotechnology is packed with data. Whether you are applying for roles in drug discovery, clinical research, bioprocessing, diagnostics, genomics or regulated manufacturing, you will meet numbers every day: assay readouts, QC trends, dose response curves, sequencing counts, clinical endpoints, stability profiles, validation reports & risk assessments. If you are a UK job seeker moving into biotech from another sector or you are a student in biology, biochemistry, biomedical science, pharmacy, chemistry, engineering or computer science, it is normal to worry you “do not have the maths”. What biotech roles do need is confidence with a small set of practical topics that show up again & again. This guide focuses on the only maths most biotech job adverts quietly assume: • Biostatistics basics for experiments, evidence & decision making • Probability for variability, uncertainty & risk • Linear algebra essentials for omics, PCA & modelling workflows • Calculus basics for kinetics, rates & dose response intuition • Simple optimisation for curve fitting, process set points & model tuning