A full scholarship for a PhD student to study noroviruses is available immediately in the lab of Dr. Grant Hansman at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. The scholarship will be awarded for a span of four years and is jointly sponsored by DKFZ and the Wiezmann Institute in Israel.
The project will focus on molecular targets important for the development of antivirals and offer the PhD student an opportunity to learn and carry out experiments to determine the full-length genome sequences from norovirus isolates; express the variant capsid genes in insect cells and determine the antigenic changes amongst variant viruses; express and crystallize the variant RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and capsid P domains in E.coli and determine their X-ray crystal structures; compare the histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) binding profiles among the variant P domains using X-ray crystallography; investigate the enzymatic activities among the variant RdRps; develop a virus-tracking system and observe differences between variant VLPs and their attachment/ entry to culture cells. The potential candidate must be interested in understanding structure and pathogenicity of noroviruses. Prior experience in X-ray crystallography or viruses is a plus but is not a requirement. Interested candidates should forward their applications (a brief description of research interests and a CV) to Dr. Grant Hansman (g.hans...@dkfz-heidelberg.de) at the German Cancer Research Center.
