Research Associate – Molecular Mechanisms Driving Liver Cancer Development

We are seeking an ambitious and highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to join Professor Karen Piper Hanley’s team to investigate how mechanical and microenvironmental changes reshape liver cell behaviour during chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. This project will combine advanced liver organoid systems, mouse models, and translational human liver disease cohorts to uncover how extracellular matrix remodelling, tissue stiffness, and inflammatory microenvironments drive cellular plasticity and malignant transformation. A major focus will be understanding how mechanical stress alters nuclear membrane responses, transcriptional regulation, and intercellular communication during disease progression. The successful candidate will develop and apply mechanistic wet-lab approaches alongside cutting-edge single-cell and spatial technologies, including spatial transcriptomics and emerging cell–cell interaction methodologies. The project offers opportunities to integrate advanced imaging, functional genomics, organoid biology, and translational tissue analysis within a highly interdisciplinary research environment. The laboratory is embedded within the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at The University of Manchester and has strong links with the Manchester Cell-Matrix Centre, an internationally recognised centre focused on mechanobiology, extracellular matrix biology, fibrosis, and tissue remodelling. The postholder will benefit from access to outstanding genomics, imaging, spatial transcriptomics, and computational infrastructure, as well as close interactions with researchers across hepatology, developmental biology, cancer and matrix biology.