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Postdoctoral position in biophysics

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
France
Closing date
Sep 3, 2018

Job Details

We are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher with background in biophysics to join an interdisciplinary and international project to explore the evolutionary mechanics of adhesion complexes.

 

Project

The project, at the interface between physics and molecular and evolutionary biology, will explore the mechanical evolution of adhesion complexes using inner-ear cadherin tip links as a model system1. The project is a collaboration between Marcos SOTOMAYOR (Ohio State University, OH, USA), Vincent LYNCH (University of Chicago, IL, USA) and Felix RICO (Aix-Marseille University, France). The US partners will sequence, synthesize, and study tip‐link proteins from diverse extant species and will carry out evolutionary analyses both to reconstruct the sequences of ancestral, “resurrected” tip links, and to identify potentially stronger tip links from species in which positive selection is reported. The postdoc joining the French partner will use high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM2) to probe the mechanical response of cadherin tip links from different extant species and "resurrected" sequences. High‐speed force spectroscopy3 and molecular dynamics simulations4 will be combined at similar loading rates to obtain an atomistic description of tip-link mechanics.

Continuous exchange and meetings with the US partners is expected.

The project, starting in fall 2018, is funded by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP).

 

Hosting group and working environment

The force microscopy group is an interdisciplinary and international group affiliated to the LAI U1067 Aix-Marseille Université / INSERM / CNRS. The lab is located in the Luminy campus within the Calanques National Park in Marseille, France. The campus provides an exceptional research environment, including renowned centers in immunology, developmental biology, theoretical physics and mathematics. The lab is part of the Turing Centre for Living Systems (CENTURI), an interdisciplinary institute to decipher the complexity of biological systems.

 

References

1. Sotomayor, M., Weihofen, W. A., Gaudet, R. & Corey, D. P. Structure of a force-conveying cadherin bond essential for inner-ear mechanotransduction. Nature (2012).

2. Ando, T. et al. A high-speed atomic force microscope for studying biological macromolecules. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98, 12468–12472 (2001).

3. Rico, F., Gonzalez, L., Casuso, I., Puig-Vidal, M. & Scheuring, S. High-Speed Force Spectroscopy Unfolds Titin at the Velocity of Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Science 342, 741–743 (2013).

4. Sotomayor, M. & Schulten, K. Single-molecule experiments in vitro and in silico. Science 316, 1144–1148 (2007).

 

Terms of salary and employment:

A 1-year contract renewable up to the length of the HFSP project. The terms of employment are set according to the prefixed table of wages and depend on professional experience. Successful candidates will receive a gross salary around 2800 euros per month.

Selected applicants will be notified whether their application has been selected for further assessment and interview either by personal visit or video conference.

Company

Global Academy Jobs works with over 250 universities worldwide to promote academic mobility and international research collaboration. Global problems need international solutions. Our jobs board and emails reach the academics and researchers who can help.

"The globalisation of higher education continues apace, driving in turn the ongoing development of the global knowledge economy, striving for solutions to the world’s problems and educating a next generation of leaders and contributors."

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