Research Associate

ABOUT THE UNIT:

The Translational Cancer Biology Research Unit identifies and investigates the unique and critical genetic, molecular and cellular changes underlying cancer development, particularly in cancers that disproportionately affect Asians. Our work provides insights into disease mechanisms with implications for the development of improved therapies for cancers. This includes integrating large-scale drug response data with gene dependency and multi-omics data to improve our understanding of critical genes that keep the cancer cells alive, as well as uncovering the mechanism of action of drugs with their associated biomarkers. The goal is to identify and prioritize novel targeted therapies for head and neck cancers.

JOB SCOPE:

The Research Associate (“RA”) will be responsible for delivering milestones of the research program. Specifically, the RA will be assisting the Head of Research Unit to conduct follow-up studies on genes identified from the CRISPR/Cas9 and high-throughput drug screens, to determine the functional impact of these genes on cell viability and immunomodulation. The RA will work on investigating the mechanism of action of any associated drug(s) as monotherapy and when in combination with other standard of care therapies, especially immunotherapy. This includes using cell and molecular biology techniques such as knock-in/knock-out experiments, cell viability assays, RT-PCR, Western blot, , flow cytometry, and the use of 2D and 3d in vitro and in vivo models. Together, these experiments will enable the team to uncover the function of these genes in the context of head and neck cancers and how they affect the action of cancer drugs that could be exploited for therapeutic impact, and further extend its application for other cancer types.

Roles and responsibilities include:

1. To design and execute experiments to help the team meet internal and external

milestones of research programs

2. To keep comprehensive record of experiment logs and generated raw data

3. To be accountable for high-quality data

4. To be able to interpret data, troubleshoot and plan for next steps

5. To communicate experiment procedures and results effectively

6. To keep up-to-date with literature and able to interpret own data and put in context in

relation to current literature

7. To support the team for general administrative tasks

Qualifications:

• Educated to a Master’s degree or Bachelor's degree with at least 2 years of relevant

experience in cancer biology

• Experience and skills in molecular and cell biology

• Experience in presenting scientific data both in spoken (conference) or written

(publication) form

• Driven by a strong sense of making an impact, with problem-solving skills, including conflict resolution skills

• The ability to prioritise own workload and work to deadlines

• Adopts a pro-active attitude to work

• Assumes full responsibilities