Band 3 Research Technician

An opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and motivated individual to join our expanding laboratory team at the NIHR / Wellcome Trust Birmingham Clinical Research Facility (CRF) as a Research Technician. The CRF provides a high-quality clinical environment in which patients and healthy subjects can participate in research programmes safely according to robust, ethically approved trial protocols., Working as part of the CRF Laboratory Team the post holder will have knowledge of a range of pre-analytical procedures and will be responsible for receiving biological samples from clinical trials and studies, and carry out any pre-analytical processing, storage or shipping in accordance with the study specific laboratory manual.

Good communication skills are required when talking to clinical delivery teams or external stakeholders such as Central Laboratories and couriers. The role also requires Researching Governance issues such as patient confidentiality, informed consent, data protection and Good Clinical Practice guidelines. Attention to detail is essential to ensure samples are labelled correctly and their custodianship recorded accurately, and auditing is carried out correctly.

General duties will include participating in daily, monthly and weekly laboratory maintenance and equipment checks. Assist in creating the weekly laboratory work schedule by accurately recording patient visits and ordering transport couriers and dry ice when required.

In return, we can offer you continued professional development in a varied and interesting setting, and the opportunity to make a valuable contribution to the smooth delivery of research studies.

The post holder should have good interpersonal skills to collect samples from a clinical environment and be able to communicate effectively with clinical or scientific staff about subsequent processing, storage and shipping. The sample pathway through the laboratory needs to be accurately catalogued, so an attention to detail is required.

The role often requires the spinning then aliquoting of samples, with less frequent cell isolation (eg PBMCs). Lab experience using basic equipment such as centrifuges and pipettes is desirable.

Current working pattern is 08-00 to 16-00 or 10-00 to 18-00 Mon-Fri, but during busy times some flexibility might be required.

Applicants should be educated to GCSE standard or equivalent in English Language and Mathematics and possess excellent numeracy and written/verbal communication skills. Demonstrable experience of Microsoft packages is required.

We are recognised as one of the leading NHS Foundation Trusts in the UK. Our vision is to Build Healthier Lives, and we recognise that we need incredible staff to do this.

Our commitment to our staff is to create the best place for them to work, and we are dedicated to:

Investing in the health and wellbeing of our staff, including a commitment of offering flexible working where we can;Offer our staff a wide variety of training and development opportunities, to support their personal and career development objectives.

UHB is committed to ensuring that our staff are treated fairly and feel that they belong, by creating a kind and inclusive environment. This is about equity of opportunity; removing all barriers, including discrimination and ensuring each individual member of staff reach their true potential, achieve their ambitions and thrive in their work. This is more than words. We are taking action. Our commitment to an inclusive culture is embedded at all levels of the organisation where every voice is heard, driven by our diverse and active staff networks, and at Board level by the Fairness Taskforce led by our CEO. We nurture a culture which empowers staff to challenge discriminatory behaviours and to enable people to bring their 'whole self' to a kinder, more connected and bold place to work.

University Hospitals Birmingham is a Smoke-Free premises hospital.