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Research Associate in Synthetic Organic Chemistry

Job Details

Location: Oxford Road

Employment type: Fixed Term

Contract duration: 48 Months

Closing date: 19 September 2024.

A Research Associate is required in the Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester to synthesise and characterise organic materials as part of the BBSRC Prosperity Partnership SUCCEED. The project focusses on the development of new routes from bioderived feedstocks to commodity chemicals and sustainable fuels. This post will involve collaboration with researchers within the University and in the company partner. Applicants should have a strong track record in organic synthesis with experience in process, continuous or scale up chemistry.

What can you expect in return?

The University will actively foster a culture of inclusion and diversity and will seek to achieve true equality of opportunity for all members of its community.

What you will get in return:

• Fantastic market leading Pension scheme
• Excellent employee health and wellbeing services including an Employee Assistance Programme
• Exceptional starting annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays
• Additional paid closure over the Christmas period
• Local and national discounts at a range of major retailers.

As an equal opportunities employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit.

Our University is positive about flexible working – you can find out more here

Hybrid working arrangements may be considered.

Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies.

Any recruitment enquiries from recruitment agencies should be directed to [email protected]

Any CV’s submitted by a recruitment agency will be considered a gift.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Name: The Director of Organic Materials Innovation Centre Prof M L Turner

Email: [email protected]

General enquiries:

Email: [email protected]

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.

The University of Manchester                               

Up to 100 senior academics

The University of Manchester has a proud record of achievement and an ambitious vision for the future. We’ve many world-leading scholars on our staff, including three Nobel Prize winners, and we’re now making a significant strategic investment to appoint more than 100 new academic staff to help us to achieve our ambitious goals for research and education.

World-leading minds answering the world’s biggest questions.

The UK’s largest university, we’re committed to pioneering research, often across disciplines, which also enriches the learning environment for our students.

Here in the heart of a vibrant city, you’ll be able to collaborate with brilliant minds to solve tomorrow’s challenges today. You’ll also enjoy educating and inspiring the leaders of the future.

Britain’s largest university

Spearheading research of international standing across a diverse range of fields, we’re a University of scale, breadth and depth that:

• Employs over 11,000 people
• Offers over 400 degree courses
• Supports hundreds of specialist research groups
• Has world-class facilities and more Nobel Prize winners on our current staff than any other UK university
• Is the UK’s second most popular university for undergraduate applications
• Pioneered many firsts from the splitting of the atom to building the world’s first modern computer

Vibrant, cosmopolitan and heralded as the culture capital of the North, Manchester is widely regarded as Britain’s second city. A great place to live, work, shop, watch sport and enjoy life to the full, our diverse region is home to stunning countryside and attractive towns and villages. Situated close to the coast and the Lake District, London is only around two hours away by train, and Manchester Airport provides a gateway to the world.

Apply today

If you want to help create more world firsts, apply online and learn about our vision for the future at www.manchester.ac.uk/worldleadingminds

The future, made in Manchester.

Discover more and apply

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Job descriptions and industry overviews

Research chemist: job description.

Olivia Rowland

26 Jun 2023, 09:11

Research chemists use their knowledge of chemical compounds to create and improve products and processes.

What does a research chemist do? Graduate salaries | Typical employers | Qualifications and training | Key skills

Research chemists (also known as research and development chemists) apply their academic and practical knowledge of chemical compounds to create and improve products – from new drugs and medical treatments to consumer goods – and the processes used to manufacture them. Many roles focus on exploring the environmental impacts of products and processes, and on ensuring they are minimised.

You can also be a research scientist in other areas, such as biology and physics.

Typical duties include:

• setting up laboratory equipment
• conducting tests and experiments
• manufacturing chemicals
• planning and running projects
• following protocols to ensure research is conducted rigorously
• ensuring experiments are carried out safely – for example, by carrying out risk assessments
• recording and analysing data
• presenting results to senior research staff and clients
• researching and writing papers, reports and reviews
• supervising junior staff, including laboratory technicians
• keeping up to date with relevant scientific and technical developments.

The nature of the role means that work is likely to be laboratory based. Jobs tend to be centred around areas that are hubs of science-based industry, such as Cambridge.

Graduate salaries

Salaries for research chemists tend to start at around £20,000, according to jobs comparison site Glassdoor. Earnings will rise with experience; the average salary for a research chemist is around £30,000.

Typical employers of research chemists

• Pharmaceutical companies
• Consumer goods manufacturers
• Contract research organisations.

Vacancies are advertised on targetjobs and careers services. You’ll also find them on sector-specific jobs boards. The recruitment process may involve a technical interview.

Qualifications and training required

You can only become a research chemist if you have a good degree (a 2.1 or above) in a relevant science subject such as chemistry or biochemistry.

A relevant postgraduate qualification such as a research-based masters or a PhD is also often required, particularly for permanent positions or senior research positions.

A school leaver could get into the science industry through an apprenticeship as a laboratory technician, which may involve being supervised by, and supporting the work of, a research chemist. However, it’s not possible to progress to a research chemist role without getting a degree.

Key skills for research chemists

Employers will be looking for:

• excellent numerical skills
• research skills
• a logical and independent mind
• excellent analytical skills
• meticulous attention to detail and accuracy
• teamwork and interpersonal skills
• written and oral communication skills.

Next: search graduate jobs and internships

View our graduate jobs and internships and don't forget to register with targetjobs to get the latest job opportunities, internships, career advice, courses and graduate events based on what's important to you.

targetjobs editorial advice

This describes editorially independent and impartial content, which has been written and edited by the targetjobs content team. Any external contributors featuring in the article are in line with our non-advertorial policy, by which we mean that we do not promote one organisation over another.

Related careers advice

Research scientist: job description

• Science, R&D, food industry +8

Technical interview tips for graduates, by graduates

• Technology +10

Scientific postgraduate study: MSc, MRes or PhD?

We've got you

School of Chemistry

Ground-breaking study reveals that effective regulation and monitoring are crucial for addressing emissions of a super-greenhouse gas..

The measurements of HFC-23 and other by-products of Teflon manufacture, and of the emitted tracer gas were carried out at the Cabauw tall tower in the Netherlands. The 213-meter mast, as pictured, is operated by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). ICOS RI

Dr Dominique Rust, Research Associate, School of Chemistry.

Dr Kieran Stanley, Senior Research Fellow, School of Chemistry.

22 August 2024

New research has uncovered that factories worldwide are failing to adequately eliminate a highly potent greenhouse gas produced during the manufacturing of fluoropolymers, such as Teflon, and refrigerants.

The study investigated a known disparity between real and reported emissions of this gas, prompting calls for more countries to sign up to official agreements to limit emissions and for their Teflon factories to be independently audited to ensure compliance.

The research, published today in the journal   Nature , scrutinised emissions of one of the most potent hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) greenhouse gases called trifluoromethane, also known as HFC-23. Its main source is as a by-product in the industrial production of certain refrigerants and Teflon, which is used in products such as nonstick cookware. More than 150 countries have pledged to significantly reduce their HFC-23 emissions as part of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

Since 2020, all Teflon manufacturers are obligated to destroy the strong greenhouse gas. According to the reports of the individual countries producing these products, this is happening. On paper the global annual emissions of HFC-23 were only 2,000 tons in 2020 but the actual global emissions, shown in numerous studies, uncover a different picture. In 2020 alone, around 16,000 tons of the greenhouse gas were previously found to be released into the atmosphere.

To unravel this discrepancy, researchers from the University of Bristol in the UK, Empa in Switzerland, and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research compared HFC-23 levels reported by individual countries with actual levels emitted from a Teflon factory in the Netherlands. To record the emissions as comprehensively and accurately as possible, a novel technique was used. This involved releasing a tracer directly next to the factory: a non-toxic gas that does not occur in the atmosphere and decomposes within a few weeks. At a distance of around 25 kilometres, they then measured the concentrations of HFC-23 and other by-products of Teflon manufacture – and also the concentration of the tracer.

First author Dr Dominique Rust, a Research Associate at the University of Bristol School of Chemistry, said: “Since we knew exactly how much tracer we had released and how much of it arrived at the measuring point, we were able to calculate the emissions of HFC-23 and other gases.”

Results showed that even though estimated emissions are higher than those reported by the factory, measures to curb HFC-23 levels are largely effective.

The findings indicated that if all factories globally were controlling emissions in the same way as the one studied, HFC-23 emissions could be cut by around 85%. This reduction equates to almost one fifth (17%) of carbon dioxide emissions generated by all aviation traffic.

Dr Rust, who worked on the study as part of her doctorate at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, added: “The collaboration with the Teflon manufacturer and the Dutch authorities was key to understanding the real picture.”

Co-author Dr Martin Vollmer, Researcher at Empa, said: “We suspect higher actual readings in the global atmosphere are explained by some countries underreporting emissions, resulting in this disconnect. One explanation is that abatement technologies aren’t as effectively implemented globally as at the factory we investigated."

The researchers are calling for factories to be independently audited. This independent verification of greenhouse gas emissions from the production of fluoropolymers and refrigerants would help close gaps in understanding the emission sources and check that countries are fully compliant under different international climate and environment agreements.

Co-author Dr Kieran Stanley, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, said: "Studies like this can help us to independently verify reported declines in emissions from fluorochemical plants and ensure that countries are reaching their obligations under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

"These results are therefore really encouraging and show that abatement of emissions from fluorochemical plants producing fluoropolymers like Teflon can significantly reduce emissions of a highly potent greenhouse gas.”

The researchers are now planning another study in South Korea in October which will involve using the tracer method to determine the emissions of other halogenated substances in the capital city Seoul.

'Effective realization of abatement measures can reduce HFC-23 emissions' by D Rust et al in   Nature

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• 22 August 2024

Debate rages over Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab as UK limits approval

• Diana Kwon 0

Diana Kwon is a freelance science journalist based in Berlin.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

A composite MRI image showing a healthy brain (left) and one with advanced Alzheimer’s disease (right). Credit: Jessica Wilson/Medical Body Scans/Science History Images via Alamy

Debate over the Alzheimer’s disease drug lecanemab — one of the first to slow cognitive decline in people — is intensifying among researchers and clinicians over whether the potential benefits of treatment outweigh the risks of harm.

On 22 August, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency greenlit the drug. But at the same time, the UK healthcare regulator NICE, which determines whether drugs will be offered to patients on the government-funded UK National Health Service (NHS), said in draft guidance that lecanemab will not be made available on the NHS because the benefits are too small to justify the high cost.

“The unusually long time that they have spent considering the drug suggests that this has not been an easy or straightforward decision,” said psychiatrist Robert Howard at University College London in a statement to the UK Science Media Centre.

US regulators were the first to authorize the drug in 2023 , and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is now reassessing its decision following an appeal by the drugmaker.

Amyloid target

The EMA’s decision was also met with mixed responses from the Alzheimer’s community. “Emotions are really high here,” says Christian Haass, a biochemist at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, who disagrees with the decision. “It’s the first disease-modifying drug we have in more than 30 years.” Denying patients the ability to access lecanemab means many will lose out on the opportunity to gain valuable time, he adds.

Lecanemab, or Leqembi, is a monoclonal antibody that works by clearing amyloid, a substance that builds up into toxic clumps in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. The drug, which is made by Eisai in Tokyo and Biogen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is also approved in China, Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

Others applaud the EMA and say that while the drug did effectively lower amyloid levels in the brain , whether the reduction in cognitive decline it led to will result in clinically meaningful benefits for patients remains unclear. They say that the possibility of serious complications such as bleeding or swelling in the brain caused by a side effect known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), although small, is a big concern. “Any reasonable assessment of the risks versus the benefit of this drug should lead people to be very sceptical of it,” says Matthew Schrag , a neurologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Modest effects

Whether lecanemab, which is administered by infusion, offers people a clinically meaningful reduction in cognitive decline has long been debated .

A phase III clinical trial of the drug, which was published 1 in 2022, included 1,795 people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and found that after 18 months, those who received the drug showed a 27% reduction in cognitive decline compared with those who received a placebo. Some researchers celebrated the news as a win for the field. But others argued that the effects are too small to have a meaningful effect on patients.

One reason for this difference in perspective lies in how people look at the data, says Sebastian Walsh, a public-health researcher at the University of Cambridge, UK. The 27% reduction represents the relative difference in the amount of cognitive decline experienced in the drug group versus the placebo group. The absolute difference in cognitive function is much smaller: 0.45 points on an 18-point scale. “People can extract from the effect size what they want,” says Walsh. “If they want to sell the drug, you could stick to the relative changes — and if you’re very sceptical, you could talk about the absolute differences.”

But even small effects could become meaningful if maintained over time, particularly in the later stages of the disease when decline is quicker, Walsh says. “It ultimately comes down to what you think the long-term effect is going to be, and we don’t have an answer to that.”

Some longer-term data is now available. At the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Philadelphia last month, Eisai and Biogen presented findings from an open-label extension study, which continued to monitor the patients who received lecanemab following the completion of the phase III trial. After three years of continuous treatment, more than half of patients showed improvement, and most cases of ARIA occurred in the first six months of treatment. They also reported that the rate of cognitive decline returned to placebo levels when people stopped taking the drug, even if amyloid plaques had been removed before ceasing treatment.

Lecanemab, which is sold as Leqembi, is infused into patients in a hospital every few weeks. Credit: Kota Kiriyama/Yomiuri Shimbun via AP/Alamy

Some are optimistic about these findings — Haass says that it’s exciting to see that the drug not only clears amyloid but also slows the spread of tau, another protein that accumulates into clumps in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s. Others are more cautious. Paresh Malhotra, a neurologist at Imperial College London, points out that the positive findings presented at AAIC were not compared to a placebo, so more data is needed to determine the drug’s long term effectiveness.

Cost is also a concern. Walsh says that, given the drug’s modest effects, it is difficult to justify the expense of administering the drug (which costs more the US$20,000 yearly in the United States) and the procedures, such as neuoimaging and genetic testing, that are required to identify people eligible to receive it.

Safety worries

The biggest concern about lecanemab is ARIA, which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned about in its approval. Although most cases are asymptomatic — and none were reported during the initial 18-month clinical study — there have been a handful of ARIA-linked deaths in the extended phase of the trial.

Some experts say that although the risk of severe ARIA is small, it’s also important to consider that the drug is administered during the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s. “This is the time period where people have the most to lose,” says Schrag. “We are often encouraging patients in this window to travel, to think about their bucket list, to get done the things that they want to accomplish in life.”

Ellis van Etten, a neurologist at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, says that there are still many open questions about ARIA, and how clinicians should respond when they see patients develop these abnormalities during treatment. For example: who will develop severe or life-threatening ARIA? At what point does ARIA go from being benign to harmful, and when should treatment with lecanemab be stopped?

Many of the same questions about benefits and risks apply to another amyloid-clearing antibody, donanemab — made by Eli Lilly in Indianapolis, Indiana — which received FDA approval in July. Donanemab seems to offer roughly the same degree of reduction in cognitive decline as lecanamab — and it has been associated with ARIA-related deaths.

“We know from biomarker-related work that these antibodies clear amyloid, so we know that they’re addressing a fundamental mechanism of the disease,” Malhotra says. But these drugs alone will likely not be enough, and addressing other aspects of the disease will be important, he adds. “It’s very likely that in ten years’ time, we’ll be talking about combination therapies and that amyloid-clearing will be part of this approach.”

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02720-y

van Dyck, C. H. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 388 , 9–21 (2023).

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Programme manager, science communities.

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We have an exciting opportunity for a Programme Manager, Science Communities to join us on a 12 month, full-time (35-hour week) basis.

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Product Manager (New Markets)

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The RSC is seeking a Product Manager, New Markets to lead the development of cutting-edge digital products for sustainable laboratory practices.

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Research Technician

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CK Group are recruiting for a Research Technician to join a resin and composites company at their site based in Heanor, Derbyshire on a permanent...

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Sealant Chemist

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Emily Mills at the CK Group is recruiting for a Chemist to join a chemical company in the aerospace industry, at their site based in...

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