Posted on behalf of Prof. Francesco Blasi, who might be directly
contacted if interested
(check http://www.ifom-ieo-campus.it/research/blasi.php for contacts)
Post doctoral position available from January 2010.
Laboratory: Prof. Francesco Blasi, IFOM (Foundation FIRC Institute of
Molecular Oncology), at the IFOM-IEO Campus, Milano, Italy. http://www.ifom-ieo-campus.it/
Project. Crystallization and structural analysis of the Prep1-Pbx1-DNA
complex.
Prep1 and Pbx1 are homeodomain proteins that interact to bind DNA and
affect developmental processes by regulating the expression of Hox
genes. Biochemical analysis has established the presence of N-terminal
regions in both proteins required for the interaction. On the other
hand at the C-termini of both proteins contain the homeodomain that is
the actual DNA-binding region.
The interest in solving the structure of the Prep1-Pbx1-DNA complex,
in addition, lies in the novelty of the domains involved for which no
X-ray structure is available. Moreover, since both Prep1 and Pbx1
belong to a family of proteins, the involved domains are conserved in
the other members and therefore modeling will allow to re-construct a
series of structures, with potential impact also in terms of drug
targets.
State of advancement of the project. The project will capitalize on
previous work in which a large number of constructs and vectors has
been analyzed, as well as several purification procedures. We are now
at a stage in which several different constructs expressing at high
level soluble protein complexes have been produced and reliable
purification procedures have been established. The work to be done
will be to search for suitable crystallization procedures and to solve
the X-ray structure. Conservatively, we feel that this can be
certainly achieved within two years
Salary. At the IFOM-IEO Campus, post-doctoral salaries ranges within
24000-36000€/yr. Further information as to fringe benefits etc can be
found at the Campus web Site.
--
Sebastiano Pasqualato, PhD
IFOM-IEO Campus
Dipartimento di Oncologia Sperimentale
Istituto Europeo di Oncologia
via Adamello, 16
20139 - Milano
Italy
tel +39 02 9437 5094
