Postdoctoral Research Associate in Biocatalysis & Chemical Biology

Contract type: Full time (35 hours per week)

Fixed term: available immediately for 24 months

Number of posts: 2

The School of Chemistry are looking for two postdoctoral research associate (PDRA) positions from the 1st June 2024 (or as soon as possible thereafter) for 24 months. The PDRAs will be supervised by Dr Amanda Jarvis (www.amandajarvis.co.uk/) and Prof. Dominic Campopiano (https://campopianosite.wixsite.com/campopiano) and will be based in the School of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. 

The Opportunity:

The PDRAs will lead experimental work on the biosynthesis of non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) as part of a project entitled ‘Scalable Production Of Precisely Engineered Proteins Using An Expanded Genetic Code’. This is a new £2M Engineering Biology Mission Award in collaboration with the University of Manchester (PI: Prof. Anthony Green, co-Is: Dr Sarah Lovelock and Prof. Patrick Cai). (https://www.ukri.org/news/new-100m-fund-will-unlock-the-potential-of-engineering-biology/).

Applicants should have (or be near completion of) a PhD in chemistry, chemical biology or a related field. A successful candidate is likely to have experience with biocatalysis and relevant analytical skills (e.g. HPLC, GC and MS). Experience of biosynthetic pathway design and working in vivo will be an advantage. The candidate should have an excellent academic track record (commensurate with their career stage and experience), ideally including peer-reviewed published work. They are expected to be active in developing the project, to collaborate with all team members, and to contribute to the mentoring/training of PhD students and project students. The successful applicant will join a vibrant and diverse team of chemists, biochemists and synthetic biologists based across 5 groups in Edinburgh and Manchester (Edinburgh: Campopiano and Jarvis groups; Manchester: Lovelock, Green and Cai groups).

For informal enquires please contact: Dr Amanda Jarvis at amanda.jarvis@ed.ac.uk or Prof. Dominic Campopiano Dominic.Campopiano@ed.ac.uk.

Your skills and attributes for success: 

• Expertise in biocatalysis/enzyme-catalysed reactions
• In depth knowledge of analytical techniques such as GC-MS, HPLC, NMR. 
• An interest and enthusiasm to work at the chemistry-biology interface
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills 

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