Job Reference Number: Job Title: Contract Type: Working Pattern: Faculty: Department: Salary: £30,688 - £32,548 per annum Closing Date: 15th Jan. 2018
APPLY VIA Current vacancies link on https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/jobs Search for job reference number UOS017984 Postdoctoral Research Associate in Structural Biology /Structure-based drug design We seek to appoint a Research Associate in Structural Biology to work on the development of inhibitors of bacterial flap endonucleases (FEN) as potential new antimicrobial drugs. This is a n university position for 16-month fixed-term funded by a research contract from an exciting new University of Sheffield spin-out company founded to develop a new generation of anti-bacterial agents capable of targeting antibiotic resistant bacteria. You will conduct world-class research to enable a structure-based drug design approach to develop inhibitors of essential bacterial enzymes. Your role will be to crystallize and determine the X-ray crystal structures of FEN enzymes and to carry out structure-based drug screening/design . You will work closely with a second Research Associate tasked with protein manufacture, inhibitor characterization and development. We welcome highly dedicated and enthusiastic candidates with the ability to develop their scientific skills. You will possess or have submitted a PhD degree in X-ray crystallography of protein molecules and have an interest and ideally experience in in silico drug development. Success in this post may lead to an opportunity to continue on the project subject to further funding being obtained. FEN enzymes are involved in DNA replication and repair (see our recent paper in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology on the mechanism). We are using site-directed mutagenesis, crystallography and kinetic studies to determine how these complicated enzymes function and you will apply this to developing inhibitors in a structure-based approach. The groups are housed within well-equipped laboratories with access to excellent core facilities with state-of-the-art equipment for e.g. biological mass spectrometry, Cryo-EM, X-ray crystallography, liquid handling robotics for high throughput screening & crystallization, a range of microscopy facilities, etc. You will join a multidisciplinary team made up of scientists from the Sayers’ and Baker laboratories from the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease, (IICD) and Department of Molecular Biology & Biotechnology (MBB), respectively. This represents a collaboration between two research institutes in Sheffield, namely, The Sheffield Institute for Nucleic Acids (SInfoNiA) and The Flory Institute for Host-pathogen Interactions. You will hold a good honours degree in a relevant subject and a PhD in macromolecular crystallography. This post is fixed term for 16 months, with a start date of 1 February 2018 (or as soon as possible thereafter). -- Professor Jon R Sayers, FRSB Department of Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease University of Sheffield Medical School Beech Hill Rd Sheffield S10 2RX United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)114 215 9552 Fax: +44 (0)114 271 1863 Email: [email protected] http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/iicd/profiles/sayers
