[phenixbb] Postdoctoral position in Indiana University School of Medicine

[Takagi, Yuichiro]

Postdoctoral Fellow, Takagi Laboratory (https://medicine.iu.edu/research/faculty-labs/takagi/), Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Indiana University School of Medicine

We are looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral follow with a background in structural biology (X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM), to work on NIH-funded projects studying multi-protein complexes involved in eukaryotic transcription regulation.

Who We Are:
My laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanisms of assembly, structure and function of large multi-protein complexes -“molecular machines” - involved in eukaryotic gene regulation, utilizing both cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography. We are particularly interested in the Mediator complex in both yeast and humans.

We believe that development and implementation of novel technologies is the key to unlocking the mysteries of how highly complex molecular machines (e.g. Mediator) function. Therefore, our overall research objective is two-fold: (i) development of novel technologies for studying multi-protein complexes, and (ii) application of these technologies to elucidate the structure and function of the Mediator complex.  In addition, we have developed a novel technology for producing pure preparations of difficult-to-express proteins and protein complexes, which has enabled several exciting ongoing projects with outstanding collaborators, including work on: plant RNA polymerases, DNA helicases, DNA repair complexes, RNA editing complex, and insulator complex.

What We Offer:
State-of-the art protein and protein complex expression technologies (patent pending) enabling expression of difficult-to-express, problematic proteins and protein complexes
Accessibility to crystallization drop-setting robots, home X-ray sources, Synchrotron data collection at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory (within a 3 hour drive from our lab), as well as electron-microscopy (EM) facility: Titan Krios, Talos Artica, and JOEL-FS3200
A one-on-one mentoring opportunity by which a postdoctoral fellow can learn the craft of designing research strategy, preparing compelling grant proposals, and paper-writing and presentation skills
The opportunity to work with multiple outstanding collaborators

Who Should Apply:
This position could be a great fit for you if:

you have the expertise and experience in X-ray crystallography, and want to apply such skills toward structure determination of highly complex multi-protein complexes
you are interested in learning and developing for the cutting-edge protein complex engineering and expression technologies
you would like to extend your skill sets to cryo-EM
you are self-confident and can communicate with the PI, other lab members, and collaborators with ease, and enjoy discussing research results and how to overcome technical challenges
the specific research focus of our laboratory inspires you
you love to gather information from the literatures  and helps generate creative ideas and technical solutions
 you relish working on technically challenging problems, which often require an extended persistent effort to crack

Job Description, Qualification, and Expectations:

Primary activities in this position include, but are not limited to:
Expression and purification of the protein complexes for biochemical and structural studies (cyo-EM, crystallization
Structure determination of the protein complexes by cryo-EM or/and X-ray crystallography
Biochemical assays to characterize the recombinant protein complexes
Providing intellectual contributions to the projects including writing manuscripts, fellowship application and helping PI for grant applications
Ph.D. in structural biology (X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM) is strongly preferred.

If interested, please email a cover letter, CV, and two reference letters to ytakagi at iu.edu Applications will be screened until a suitable candidate is found.  Indiana University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.