Research Associate in Microscopy
School of Biosciences
You will join a Wellcome Trust funded Discovery Award project aimed at developing a transformative multiphoton microscopy technology for applications in mucosal tissue mechanobiology.
Mucosal surfaces are the main interface between the environment and our organism. In the lung, mucus provides a barrier that entraps foreign pathogens/nanoparticles and is moved into the oesophagus by coordinated ciliary beating of epithelial cells. Mucus viscoelasticity is crucial to this movement, and poor mucociliary clearance correlates with lung diseases.
The new technology to be developed in this project will measure mucus viscoelasticity by tracking the trajectories of individual nano-probes with unprecedented nanoscale precision and will correlatively map the 3D structure/composition of living tissues with subcellular resolution and molecular chemical specificity. The technology will be applied to healthy and diseased lung tissues, in response to inflammatory triggers, infections and drugs. This research will unlock new discoveries on how mucus mechanics interconnects to cellular/molecular regulatory pathways, including airways remodelling/fibrosis which is a massive unmet medical need.
Your role in the project will be to contribute to the development of the microscope control and data acquisition software and post-acquisition data analysis. The microscope will implement four-wave mixing imaging and tracking, coherent Raman scattering, second harmonic generation, third harmonic generation and two-photon fluorescence, all integrated in one instrument. You will support data acquisition, analysis and scientific interpretation. You will engage in scientific publication and dissemination of the results.
You will work in a vibrant research group at the physics-life science interface. You will be based at Cardiff University, offering great benefits, and will work together with our project collaborators at the University of Cambridge.
Informal enquiries are welcomed and can be directed, in the first instance, to [email protected].
The position is full time (35 hours per week) and is fixed term for 3 years.
Salary: £41,064 - £46,049 per annum (Grade 6).
Appointments to roles at Cardiff University are usually made at bottom of scale unless in exceptional circumstances.
Date advert posted: Monday, 13 July 2026
Closing date: Monday, 27 July 2026
Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds. We therefore welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age. In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.
Cardiff University is a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions we will evaluate applicants on the quality of their research, not publication metrics or the identity of the journal in which the research is published. More information is available at: Responsible research assessment - Research - Cardiff University
Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.