Research Associate x 2 (Fixed Term)

Research Associate (x2) in Molecular and Cellular Biology of Neurodegenerative Diseases focusing on intrinsically disorder proteins.

The successful candidates will join a world-leading, multidisciplinary research team located at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (CIMR). The team headed by Prof Peter St George Hyslop works on the molecular/cellular biology, biochemistry and structural biology of proteins involved in human neurodegenerative diseases, and wishes to understand how mutant and/or misfolded proteins injure neurons and glia.

The present project will principally focus on intrinsically disordered/natively unstructured proteins such as FUS, TDP43, and tau which we have recently shown undergo reversible phase transitions, a process which cause neurodegeneration when it becomes perverted (Neuron, 2015).

The persons appointed should have a PhD and will have familiarity with standard molecular and cell biological techniques, but have a particular interest and expertise in the biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, and cell biology of soluble and membrane proteins, including their expression, tagging and purification.

The successful candidates will join a highly interactive lab and will be expected to participate in open academic discussions, in the creation of new experiments, the analysis of emerging experimental data, and in the constructive criticism of draft manuscripts and grant applications. They will also be expected to present their data at informal internal presentations within CIMR, and at formal external scientific conferences.

Significant scope is provided to allow creative postdoctoral researchers to initiate independent lines of work some or all of which may ultimately form the basis for starting their own independent research laboratory.

The successful candidates will be expected to supervise the work of a technician collaborating with them on their project and may also supervise one or more graduate students in the laboratory.

The appointment is primarily directed at the Research Associate level. However, depending on their experience the appointment may be made at Senior Research Associate level pending the approval of the Clinical School Faculty Board.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available until 30 November 2017 in the first instance.

Once an offer of employment has been accepted, the successful candidate will be required to undergo a health assessment.

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