Postdoctoral Research Assistant - UOD2106

The School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee is a world-class academic institution with a reputation for the excellence of its research (currently ranked #1 In UK), its high-quality teaching and student experience, and the strong impact of its activities outside academia. With 900 staff from over 40 countries worldwide the School provides a dynamic, multi-national, collegiate and diverse environment with state-of-the-art laboratory, technology and teaching facilities.

We are recruiting an exceptional Post-Doctoral Researcher within our Team, as part of an ARIA funded project on "Enabling Small Molecule (re)programming And Manipulation Of Plant Biology". This is a fixed-term appointment for 13 months.

You will join an interdisciplinary team of plant biochemists, molecular biologists, computational biologists and medicinal chemists to identify E3 ubiquitin ligases able to inducibly degrade proteins of interest in plants. You will optimise soluble expression of candidates in E. coli for biophysical assays, fragment-based screens and structural determination.

This project is the start of a new field in plant biology, with many opportunities for independent research development and future funding, and provides the opportunity to interact with leading biologists and biotechnologists across all ARIA funded projects through "creator meetings".

Please note that applications made on a part-time basis for this role cannot be considered.

Your priorities will include:

• Generation, validation, optimisation and testing of in planta and E. coli expression constructs
• In planta and in vitro plate-based Luciferase and Western blot-based screening of inducible protein degradation
• Pilot-scale expression and solubility testing of protein produced in E.coli

Who we’re looking for:

• Talented and adaptable molecular (plant) biologist.
• Ideally experienced in basic protein work (e.g., western blotting, E.coli-based protein expression).
• Ideally experienced in plate-based reporter assays (e.g., luminescence/fluorescence).
• Excellent time management and data documentation skills.
• Highly motivated and collaborative worker.

We are one of the UK’s leading universities, internationally recognised for our expertise across a range of disciplines and research breakthroughs in multiple areas, including science, medicine and engineering. Our purpose is to transform lives, locally and globally, which we do as a community of staff, students and alumni.

Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact Dr Piers Hemsley (p.a.hemsley@dundee.ac.uk) in advance of application. To find out more about our teams please visit: Hemsley Lab (https://www.dundee.ac.uk/people/piers-hemsley), Drost Lab (https://drostlab.com/) and Ciulli labs (https://www.dundee.ac.uk/cetpd).

Commitment to DORA

The School of Life Sciences has been fully committed to the principals of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) since 2013. In assessing applicants, we consider the scientific quality of their published research papers, but do not take into account where the papers were published and do not consider journal-based metrics, such as Journal Impact Factors.

The diversity of our staff and students helps to make the University of Dundee a UK university of choice for undergraduate, postgraduate and distance learning. Family friendly policies, staff networks for BME, Disabled and LGBT staff, membership of Athena SWAN, the ECU Race Equality Charter and Stonewall as well a full range of disability services, create an enjoyable and inclusive place to work.

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