The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has awarded Imperial College London (IC) a further 5 years (2020-2025) funding for the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Respiratory Infections https://www.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/nihr-hpru-respiratory-infections. The NIHR HPRU in Respiratory Infections is a flagship partnership with UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) conducting state of the art research to support public health services. The NIHR HRPU in Respiratory Infections is a centre-of-excellence to designing, conducting, and sharing internationally leading, multidisciplinary health protection research with our partner UKHSA. The HPRU protects and improves the public’s health through better application of cost-effective public health interventions. The NIHR HPRU is a hub of an integrated consortium comprising world-class expertise in all areas of laboratory, public health, epidemiology and health-economic sciences. Its strategic coordination maintains responsive in its research capacity to address emergent threats and ensure that the partners’ proven track record in translational medicine remains harnessed directly to address public health priorities and health inequalities.

This post will be based in the HPRU’s Mycobacteria research theme, split into two areas of research; Tuberculosis (TB) and Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). The post will concentrate on TB, with potential opportunities to contribute to NTM.

TB: Whole genome sequencing (WGS) offers new opportunities for understanding and interrupting TB transmission. Although WGS data is routinely available in England, to maximise its utility for shaping public health responses it needs to be integrated with epidemiological investigations. In the context of underserved populations, it is critical for technical initiatives to be supported by improved access-to-care to reduce diagnostic delay. Here we aim to utilise WGS, phylogenetic analysis, surveillance data and social network analysis (SNA) to inform the design and evaluation of interventions to reduce TB transmission.

Duties and responsibilities

Duties include, using UKHSA derived data you will analyse historical TB transmission clusters and analyse genomic signatures of transmission, with the purpose of developing a genomic surveillance tool. You will also utilise UKHSA derived data to better understand patterns of patterns of NTM acquisition and transmission in the UK. You will manage research projects, publish research in high quality peer reviewed journals and present results at internal and external meetings, both nationally and internationally as required.

Essential requirements

Applicants must demonstrate as part of their application, how they meet the essential criteria required of the post. In particular, a PhD in a relevant subject (bioinformatics, phylogenetics, genomic analysis) and demonstrable expertise in carrying out, designing, planning and leading high quality original research are essential requirements.

Informal enquiries to Mr Samuel Evetts (s.evetts@imperial.ac.uk)