Diamond Light Source is a 3rd generation synchrotron and a leading scientific facility of its type in the world. Located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in South Oxfordshire, we host research facilities supporting cutting edge research in all fields of science. We seek an enthusiastic postdoctoral researcher to join our group within the Research Complex at Harwell to investigate the structure and function of a novel bacterial integral membrane complex involved in innate immune evasion using primarily single particle electron cryo microscopy in combination with X-ray crystallography. The project is in collaboration with the groups of Prof Kay Grünewald (University of Oxford), Prof Steve Brown’s group at MRC Harwell, Prof Ray Owens (OPPF-UK) & Dr Isabel Moraes (MPL at Diamond).

Duties

The post holder will be responsible for pursuing structural studies using primarily electron microscopy (EM). The post includes responsibility for protein production, purification and biophysical characterisation of a bacterial transporter system.  The dynamic environment at Harwell will be highly attractive to creative candidates who are interested in studying integral membrane proteins from gram-negative bacterial pathogens using primarily the tools of EM, but who are also interested in working at the interface of cryoEM, X-ray crystallography and other structural biology techniques. The post holder will carry out work at the new national facility for EM at Diamond (eBIC) and will have access to state of the art facilities including Titan Krios, Talos, Polara and other electron cryo microscopes equipped with direct detectors. These are complemented with Diamond’s suite of beamlines, that in addition to macromolecular crystallography include SAXS, CD, super resolution fluorescence cryo microscopy and a full field X-ray cryo microscope.

• PhD in structural biology or related area, ideally exploiting the use of Electron Microscopy;
• Experience in cloning and protein production for structural studies;
• Experience in the operation of transmission electron microscopes (TEMs);
• Experience in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM);
• Good interpersonal, communication and presentational skills and the ability to interact with staff at all levels;
• Good organisational and planning skills.

• Experience in working with membrane proteins;
• Experience in reconstitution of multi-protein complexes.

Ability to work flexibly with occasional out-of hours working both independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary team.