Research Fellow - Department of Pharmacy Grade 7

Position Details

Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, College of Medicine and Health

Location:

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049 with potential progression once in post to £48,822

Grade: 7

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to February 2028

Closing date: 23 rd September 2026

We are seeking an outstanding Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join an ambitious research programme addressing a major challenge in mitochondrial genome engineering: the efficient and reliable delivery of nucleic acids into mitochondria.

The successful candidate will work within a highly interdisciplinary programme bringing together expertise in nanomedicine, advanced materials, mitochondrial biology, genome engineering and synthetic biology. Based at the Department of Pharmacy at University of Birmingham, the post-holder will contribute to the development of advanced nanomaterial-based delivery technologies for mitochondrial applications.

The role will have a strong focus on nanomaterial engineering and surface chemistry, including chemical functionalisation, biomolecular conjugation and detailed physicochemical characterisation of nanomaterials. The post-holder will investigate how engineered nanomaterials interact with biological systems and contribute to their optimisation for intracellular and organelle-specific delivery.

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a high-risk, high-reward research programme while developing new technologies at the interface of nanomaterials, chemistry and nanomedicine.

This job is part of an Advanced Research and Innovation Agency (ARIA) funded project.

The post-holder will contribute to an ARIA funded research project developing innovative nanomaterial-based technologies for mitochondrial nucleic acid delivery. Working within their area of specialism, the post-holder will contribute to the design, development and evaluation of advanced nanomaterial-based delivery systems and to the wider objectives of the research programme.

The role will involve:

• Working within specified research grants and projects and contributing to the development of new research directions and research proposals.
• Operating within the areas of nanomaterials, surface chemistry, nanomedicine and intracellular delivery, with a focus on in vitro cellular uptake and nanotoxicology
• Designing, synthesising, functionalising and characterising advanced nanomaterial-based delivery systems and evaluating their performance for mitochondrial delivery.
• Analysing and interpreting physicochemical and biological research findings and results, applying knowledge to develop new methods and approaches.
• Contributing to research funding applications and wider research outputs, including publications, presentations and collaborative activities.
• Contributing to enterprise, knowledge exchange, commercialisation and/or public engagement activities, where appropriate.

The responsibilities may include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Analyse and interpret data
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
• Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars etc
• Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods
• Undertake management/administration arising from research
• Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration
• Contr…