View Vacancy -- Pathology Technician - MLC 2121

Open Date
29/03/2023, 09:00
Close Date
26/04/2023, 23:55
MRC Mary Lyon Centre

 The Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell (MLC) https://www.har.mrc.ac.uk/ is located in an expanding science and innovation campus in Oxfordshire and is an internationally renowned centre at the forefront of genetics research.  As the hub of the new National Mouse Genetics Network, the specialist facilities and capabilities of the MLC support a number of research groups across the UK to accelerate our understanding of human diseases, such as cancer, developmental disorders and neurodegeneration. 

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a great place to work and progress your career.  The MRC encourages the integration of clinical and discovery research to elucidate both disease processes and potential new therapies. The MLC provides vital scientific support for the UK biomedical community and focuses on preclinical research using mouse models, which supports clinical research and therapy discovery. 

The MRC is an excellent place to develop yourself further and a range of training & development opportunities will be available to you, including professional registration with the Science Council.

UK Research and Innovation is a new entity that brings together nine partners to create an independent organisation with a strong voice for research and innovation, more information can be found at www.ukri.org

MRC - 5
Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire
£25,798–£27,501 per annum (depending on skills and experience)
Permanent
Technical & Scientific Professionals
Full Time

Overall Purpose:

To provide necropsy support within the Pathology department. 

Main Duties/Key Responsibilities:

Necropsy

  • Performance of dissections including specialised techniques e.g. perfusions
  • Selection of tissues for embedding prior to tissue processing
  • Tissue cut-in, embedding & processing of tissues
  • Cutting of sections & basic staining 

Time Management

  • Sensible management of scheduled work
  • Scheduling of short-notice emergency work 

Quality Assurance & Record Keeping

  • Authorship, review and compliance of SOPs, risk assessments and COSHH documents
  • Maintaining databases and keeping various records and logs up to date as per requirements for ISO 9001 certification
  • Ensuring that training is kept up to date

Archiving & Stock Control

  • Ensuring that all consumables, reagents and chemicals are logged and stored
  • Ensuring all samples are logged, stored and archived appropriately e.g. wet tissue archive/ frozen tissue archive

 Working Relationships:

The post-holder will report to the Head of Pathology Services and work within a team of Pathology technicians. They will be expected to liaise with internal and external customers as well as service engineers and suppliers.

Additional Information:

  • The post-holder may occasionally be required to travel to attend meetings or training
  • Contracted to work 36 hours per week
  • Support will be provided towards professional registration with the Science Council

Equality & Diversity:

The MRC values the diverse skills and experience of its employees and is committed to achieving equality of treatment for all.  Our objectives are that all individuals shall have equal opportunities for employment and advancement on the basis of their skills, aptitudes and abilities.  The MRC is committed to the engagement and retention of the best possible talent and to creating an environment that encourages excellence in scientific research through good equality and diversity leadership and management. 

Corporate/Local Responsibilities & Requirements:

The post holder must at all times carry out their responsibilities with due regard to the MRC’s:

  • Code of Conduct
  • Equality and Diversity policy
  • Health and Safety policy
  • Data Protection and Security policy 

Job descriptions should be reviewed on a regular basis and at the annual appraisal.  Any changes should be made and agreed between the post-holder and their manager. 

The above lists are not exhaustive and the post-holder is required to undertake such duties as may reasonably be requested within the scope of the post.  All employees are required to act professionally, cooperatively and flexibly in line with the requirements of the post and the MRC.

Education/Qualifications/Training Required:

Essential:

  • Record of training in necropsy

 Desirable:

  • Record of training in histology
  • Home Office personal licence
  • Relevant BSc, HND

Previous Work Experience Required:

Essential:

  • Experience of routine rodent necropsy techniques 

Desirable:

  • Experience of routine histology techniques
  • Recent experience of necropsy and/or histology in a high-throughput environment
  • Experience of working within a quality-management system
  • Experience of working in a commercial or service-led environment

Knowledge and Experience:

Essential:

  • Competence and knowledge in necropsy principles and practice
  • Computer literacy 

Desirable:

  • Competence and knowledge in histology principles and practice
  • In-depth knowledge of mouse anatomy and physiology

Personal skills/Behaviours/Qualities:

Essential:

  • Excellent communication skills
  • Excellent attention to detail
  • Flexible approach to work to ensure changing priorities and deadlines are met
  • A service-delivery focus
  • Ability to work on day-to-day functions both independently and as part of a team

 Desirable:

  • Experience in training others
The post-holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role.  UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.
The MRC is a great place to work and progress your career, be it in scientific research or the support functions.The MRC is a unique working environment where our researchers are rewarded by world class innovation and collaboration opportunities that the MRC name brings. The MRC is an excellent place to develop yourself further and a range of training & development opportunities will be available to you, including professional registration with the Science Council.

Choosing to come to work at the MRC (part of UKRI) means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme and excellent holiday entitlement to access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme, as well as the chance to put the MRC and UKRI on your CV in the future.

Our success is dependent upon our ability to embrace diversity and draw on the skills, understanding and experience of all our people. We welcome applications from all sections of the community irrespective of gender, race, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability or age. As "Disability Confident" employers, we guarantee to interview all applicants with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.

UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider whether this conflicts with your personal values or beliefs.

We will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as an essential part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check.  The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role.  UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.

This opportunity is closed to applications.