"Postdoctoral Research Assistant - UOD2106"

University of Dundee - Biological Sciences

The School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee is a world-class academic institution with a reputation for the excellence of its research (currently ranked #1 In UK), its high-quality teaching and student experience, and the strong impact of its activities outside academia. With 900 staff from over 40 countries worldwide the School provides a dynamic, multi-national, collegiate and diverse environment with state-of-the-art laboratory, technology and teaching facilities.

We are recruiting an exceptional Post-Doctoral Researcher within our Team, as part of an ARIA funded project on "Enabling Small Molecule (re)programming And Manipulation Of Plant Biology". This is a fixed-term appointment for 13 months.

You will join an interdisciplinary team of plant biochemists, molecular biologists, computational biologists and medicinal chemists to identify E3 ubiquitin ligases able to inducibly degrade proteins of interest in plants. You will optimise soluble expression of candidates in E. coli for biophysical assays, fragment-based screens and structural determination.

This project is the start of a new field in plant biology, with many opportunities for independent research development and future funding, and provides the opportunity to interact with leading biologists and biotechnologists across all ARIA funded projects through "creator meetings".

Please note that applications made on a part-time basis for this role cannot be considered.

Your priorities will include:

• Generation, validation, optimisation and testing of in planta and E. coli expression constructs
• In planta and in vitro plate-based Luciferase and Western blot-based screening of inducible protein degradation
• Pilot-scale expression and solubility testing of protein produced in E.coli

Who we’re looking for:

• Talented and adaptable molecular (plant) biologist.
• Ideally experienced in basic protein work (e.g., western blotting, E.coli-based protein expression).
• Ideally experienced in plate-based reporter assays (e.g., luminescence/fluorescence).
• Excellent time management and data documentation skills.
• Highly motivated and collaborative worker.

Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact Dr Piers Hemsley (p.a.hemsley@dundee.ac.uk) in advance of application. To find out more about our teams please visit: Hemsley Lab, Drost Lab and Ciulli labs.