Postdoc - Hill Lab

Location: The Francis Crick Institute, Midland Road, London

About us  

The Francis Crick Institute is Europe’s largest biomedical research institute under one roof. Our world-class scientists and staff collaborate on vital research to help prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative conditions. 

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About the role 

The Developmental Signalling Laboratory headed by Caroline Hill focuses on cell signalling in early vertebrate development and disease. Our work seeks to understand how TGF-b family signalling pathways function normally in early vertebrate development and in adult untransformed cells, and how these signalling pathways are perturbed in disease, in particular in cancer and the Marfan-related syndromes. 

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We are looking for a highly motivated postdoc with proven research abilities and excellent publication record to work on structural projects using Cryo-EM and crystallography to gain mechanistic insights into TGF-β family signalling in health and disease.   

What you will be doing  

We have very recently solved the structure of a complex comprising SKI–phosphorylated SMAD2–SMAD4, that sheds light on the effect of the SKI mutations on SKI–SMAD binding. One of the main ambitions of this new project is to understand now using structural, biochemical and biophysical approaches, how this complex is recognised by RNF111 for proteosomal degradation. We also want to understand how the full length activated SMAD complexes bind at the TGF-β/activin-responsive elements with cooperating transcription factors to activate transcription. We are investigating this for wild type SMADs, but also in the context of another disease, Myhre syndrome, where SMAD4 contains an activating mutation. 

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About you  

You will bring: 

• PhD in a relevant biological science, ideally in structural biology*
• Good knowledge and experience of Cryo-EM and crystallography*
• Technical expertise molecular biology, protein production, biophysical and biochemical techniques and structural analysis*
• Track record of writing papers as evidenced by publications or submitted manuscripts in referred journals*
• Strong evidence of data presentation at scientific meetings
• Strong organisational skills and thorough record-keeping
• Ability to work independently and also in a team 

Minimum criteria* 

About Working at the Crick… 

Our values  

• We are bold. We make space for creative, dynamic and imaginative ideas and approaches. We’re not afraid to do things differently. 
• We are open. We’re highly collaborative and interactive, and make sure our activities are visible to the outside world. 
• We are collegial. We show respect for one another, work cooperatively and support the wider community. 

At the Crick, we believe that diversity and inclusion are essential to driving innovation and scientific discovery. If you need assistance with your application, please contact karen.au@crick.ac.uk.

To read more about our EDI approach, click here.   

What will you receive?  

We value our team members and are proud to offer an extensive range of benefits to support their well-being and development. You can find out more about what we offer here.

To apply for this role, please click on the 'Apply' button above.

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