Are you looking to start your career as a Mid-Level Scientist in Biotechnology - Pathogen Research in Oxford in Oxford? Ellison Institute of Technology is currently hiring local talent for this Mid-Level Scientist in Biotechnology - Pathogen Research in Oxford role!
At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:
- Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
- Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
- Climate Change & Managing COâ‚‚
- Artificial Intelligence & Robotics
This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society. Explore more at https://eit.org/.
Welcome to the Pathogen Project
Within this ecosystem, the Pathogen Mission exemplifies EIT’s commitment to transformative science. It aims to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases by leveraging whole genome sequencing (WGS)-based metagenomic and pathogen-specific analytical tools. This remit includes the development of a decentralised, sample-to-answer sequencing diagnostic platform for infectious diseases, enabling rapid and accurate analysis of patient samples without prior assumptions. Supported by Oracle Inc.’s cloud-computing scale and security infrastructure, the Pathogen Mission is progressing towards certified diagnostic products for deployment in laboratories, hospitals, and public health organisations worldwide.
Job Summary
At EIT, we are seeking a motivated, detail-focused Scientist, Biotechnology, to contribute to the early-stage development of a device-based metagenomic pathogen detection platform within EIT Oxford’s Pathogen Programme. This work aims to establish proof of concept for a modular workflow that could enable infectious disease diagnosis at or near the point of care.
In this laboratory-based role, you will work closely with scientists and engineers to develop, refine and test modular components for nucleic acid extraction, purification and manipulation within a fluidic device architecture. As part of a multidisciplinary team, you will take ownership of generating high-quality data through well-designed experiments, evaluating system performance and informing iterative improvements.
You will bring practical experience in nucleic acid handling or enzyme-based systems, together with a strong interest in applying quantitative approaches to experimental biology. Alongside strong experimental execution, you will contribute to experimental design, data interpretation and troubleshooting, using structured, quantitative approaches to support decision-making. Experience with surface chemistry, microfluidics, material interfaces or low-input nucleic acid workflows would be advantageous. You should be comfortable working in a collaborative, data-driven research environment and solving problems in early-stage technology development. This role would suit someone with a strong technical foundation who is ready to deepen their scientific independence and broaden their impact in a multidisciplinary environment.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, execute and document well-controlled, hypothesis-driven experiments to generate reproducible, high-quality data.
- Optimise and refine experimental workflows to improve reliability, reproducibility and performance.
- Apply structured experimental approaches, such as controlled comparisons and parameter variation, to investigate system behaviour and identify key performance drivers.
- Investigate nucleic acid adsorption, elution and surface interactions across device materials and reagent systems.
- Evaluate enzyme performance and assay conditions, including the effects of inhibitors, buffer composition and environmental variables.
- Collect, analyse and interpret experimental data using quantitative methods to inform scientific, engineering and product development decisions.
- Identify sources of variability in workflows and contribute to improvements in consistency, robustness and usability.
- Maintain clear, well-structured experimental records and contribute to technical reports, data sharing and cross-functional discussions.
- Work closely with scientists and engineers to support the integration of biochemical workflows into device and system designs.
Requirements
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
We welcome applicants with a range of experiences and career paths. You may have gained relevant expertise in industry, applied research or acade
Benefits
- Training Budget
- Education Support
This Mid-Level Scientist in Biotechnology - Pathogen Research in Oxford position is a fantastic opportunity to join the team at Ellison Institute of Technology. Apply today via Placed!