Postdoctoral Fellow – Hill lab

Details of the role:

Reporting to: Caroline Hill, Head of Developmental Signalling Laboratory

Working pattern: This is a full-time, fixed term (4 years) position on Crick terms and conditions of employment

Salary: From £47,500 with benefits, subject to skills and experience

Application closing date: 30th of September 2026 at 23.59pm

About us

The Francis Crick Institute is Europe’s largest biomedical research institute under one roof. Our world-class scientists and staff collaborate on vital research to help prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative conditions.

The Crick is a place for collaboration, innovation and exploration across many disciplines. A space where the brightest minds can pursue big and bold ideas and discover answers to crucial scientific questions. We support them in a dynamic environment which fosters excellence with state-of-the-art infrastructure, cutting-edge facilities, and a creative and curious culture. We’ve removed traditional boundaries of departments, divisions and disciplines and instead have an open approach that supports every researcher. This gives us the freedom to take risks and carry out high-quality, pioneering research. Creating a space for discovery without boundaries helps us to turn our science into benefits for human health and the economy.

The Research Group

The Developmental Signalling Laboratory headed by Caroline Hill focuses on cell signalling in early vertebrate development and disease. Our work seeks to understand how TGF-b family signalling pathways function normally in early vertebrate development and in adult untransformed cells, and how these signalling pathways are perturbed in disease, in particular in cancer and the Marfan-related syndromes.

Click here to find out more about the Hill Lab

About the role

We are looking for a highly motivated postdoc with proven research abilities and excellent publication record to work on a project that addresses how endoderm and mesoderm progenitors are specified in early zebrafish embryos through the interplay between Nodal and FGF signalling and cell cycle dynamics.

Recent discoveries in my lab have led us to a new understanding of how combinatorial morphogen signals drive cell fate decisions during embryogenesis. We have shown that mesoderm and endoderm specification in zebrafish, which occurs in a salt and pepper pattern at the embryonic margin, requires the interplay of two signalling pathways, Nodal and Fgf/Erk. However, we have shown that the cell fates are not determined by morphogen signalling levels. Instead, the distribution of endodermal progenitors results from a stochastic process where sustained Nodal signalling provides a competency window for the switching of bipotential progenitors to an endodermal fate. Switching is inhibited by Fgf/Erk signalling and cells that do not switch to the endodermal fate, differentiate to mesoderm.

The project will follow up our recent results that have shown that switching to the endoderm fate occurs during windows of Erk inactivity during mitosis and early G1 phase. These Erk inactivity windows are the result of a process we have termed mitotic erasure (see PMID 37714159) where Erk activity is extinguished just before cells enter mitosis and then is reactivated with variable kinetics as the daughter cells enter G1. The project will focus on determining the underlying mechanism of Erk mitotic erasure which we hypothesise is a widespread phenomenon as we have shown it not only occurs in zebrafish, but also in Drosophila embryos and human and mouse stem cells. We then aim to understand in more detail how it contributes to the endoderm switching and explore what other cellular processes are dependent on these variable windows of Erk inactivity.

Postdoctoral Fellows at the Crick lead their own projects, contribute to other projects on a collaborative basis (both in the lab and with external collaborators) and may guide PhD students in their research. The ability to work in a team is essential.

Please see full job description here

About you

You will have:

• PhD in a relevant biological science, ideally in developmental biology*
• Good knowledge and experience of working with zebrafish as a developmental system*
• Technical expertise in zebrafish embryology, live imaging and image analysis*
• Track record of writing papers as evidenced by publications or submitted manuscripts in referred journals*
• Strong evidence of data presentation at scientific meetings
• Strong organisational skills and thorough record-keeping
• Ability to work independently and also in a team
• Experience in signal transduction research (desirable)
• Experience cell cycle research (desirable)

Minimum criteria*

About Working at the Crick

Our values

Everyone who works at the Crick has a valuable role to play in advancing the Crick’s mission and shaping our culture.

• We are bold. We make space for creative, dynamic and imaginative ideas and approaches. We’re not afraid to do things differently.
• We are open. We’re highly collaborative and interactive, and make sure our activities are visible to the outside world.
• We are collegial. We show respect for one another, work cooperatively and support the wider community.

At the Francis Crick Institute, we believe that diversity and inclusion are essential to driving innovation and scientific discovery. We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to succeed, regardless of their background, identity, or personal circumstances. We actively encourage applications from individuals of all genders, ethnicities, abilities, and experiences. We are a Disability Confident: Committed employer and want to ensure that everyone can apply and be part of our recruitment processes and so we'll make reasonable adjustments if you need them - just let us know when you apply. If you need assistance with applying (i.e., would like to apply by phone or post) please email: karen.au@crick.ac.uk

Find out more about life at the Crick.

What will you receive?

At the Francis Crick Institute, we value our team members and are proud to offer an extensive range of benefits to support their well-being and development:

• Visas: Applicants for this role will be eligible for sponsorship to work in the UK
• Generous Leave: 28 days of annual leave, plus three additional days over Christmas and bank holidays.
• Pension Scheme: Defined contribution pension with employer contributions of up to 16%.
• Health & Well-being:
• 24/7 GP consultation services.
• Occupational health services and mental health support programs.
• Eye care vouchers and discounted healthcare plans.
• Work-Life Balance:
• Back-up care for dependents.
• Childcare support allowance.
• Annual leave purchase options.
• Crick Networks offering diverse groups’ support, community and inclusive social events.
• Perks:
• Discounted gym memberships, bike-to-work scheme, and shopping discounts.
• Subsidised on-site restaurant and social spaces for team interaction.

Please note you must meet the essential criteria listed within the Role Profile, to have your application reviewed.

We reserve the right to withdraw this advert at any given time due to the number of applications received.