Research Fellow, Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Research Fellow, Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Entity:
Medical College

Location:
Karachi, Pakistan

Introduction:
Aga Khan University, chartered in 1983 as Pakistan's first private international university, is committed to the provision of education, research, and health care of international standards relevant to Pakistan and the region. The affiliated Aga Khan University Hospital provides state-of-the-art clinical facilities and well-equipped diagnostic services. The University currently has teaching sites in Pakistan, East Africa, the United Kingdom, and Afghanistan, and is a major component of the Aga Khan Development Network.

As an equal opportunity employer, AKU believes in promoting a diverse and inclusive culture and is committed to adopt appropriate standards for safeguarding and promoting a respectful relationship with and between diverse workforce of its faculty, staff, trainees, volunteers, beneficiaries, wider communities, and other stakeholders with whom it works, including children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees/trainees and partners to share this commitment.

The Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences strives to achieve excellence in both teaching and research. The development and expansion of educational and thematic research programmes in innovative and relevant basic and applied research will take AKU to the next level on the international scene while benefiting the specific health care needs of Pakistan.

This is a grant-funded contractual position.

Responsibilities:
You will be responsible for:

• participating in multidisciplinary research in communicable and non-communicable diseases, collaborating within and outside BBS faculty, independently or in collaboration with other research teams and faculty members
• writing and publishing research papers in peer-reviewed journals highlight findings from research and experimental activities
• presenting research results at meetings and engaging in result publication
• designing and executing independent projects (implementation of lab protocols, innovation in lab methodologies) with minimal or no supervision, being well-versed in data management (for example, use of RedCap) with track record of laboratory administration, assisting faculty in grant and manuscript writing, and providing support to MPhil and PhD students for bench work
• assisting supervisory team(s) in procuring research funding, particularly international competitively funded grants in cooperation with the Research Office
• administering grants, including ordering and preparing documentation
• networking and collaborating both internally and externally
• establishing collaborative research linkages with other institutions to foster research
• utilizing resources efficiently and through collaborations to complete research plan
• overseeing the team’s junior members
• supporting the teaching agenda of BBS, assisting UGME, MPhil and PhD students
• informal teaching to students, staff and research volunteers
• participating in capacity building workshops.

Requirements:
You should have:

• a Masters/MPhil in biological sciences or relevant field; a PhD is preferable
• at least two years of relevant work experience
• strong background in bench research and analytical methods in the field of molecular biology as well as technical prowess in specialized fields such as proteomics, genomics, imaging, flow cytometry and next generation sequencing
  experimental experience of various molecular techniques for example NGS and Sanger sequencing, digital and real-time PCR, 2D/3D cell culture and organoid development, gene editing and various bioinformatics tools for analysis of NGS data.

Comprehensive employment reference checks will be conducted.