The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Grenoble Outstation has an active research program in structural and molecular biology, making particular use of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). The Grenoble High Throughput crystallization (HTX) lab and the Instrumentation Group are currently developing an integrated macromolecular crystallography facility that would provide fully automated resources for crystallization, crystal mounting and x-ray diffraction evaluation, based on an original concept developed by these teams. We wish to recruit a postdoctoral fellow to support this development and its integration in a pilot unit that will include the HTX lab and the EMBL/ESRF BM14 beamline. The successful candidate will contribute to this project with a special focus on the development of the crystal harvesting unit and will work in close collaboration with staff at the HTX lab and the instrumentation group. In addition to this, specific methods that would take advantage of this automated environment will be developed, in particular for in-plate crystal screening and crystal post harvesting treatments. The selected candidate will also contribute to the research activities of the HTX lab on the molecular basis of cellular signalling and in particular to the structural study of components of the abscisic acid signalling pathway that controls the response to abiotic stress in plants.Applicants should hold a PhD degree in biology, biochemistry or equivalent and have significant experience in macromolecular crystallography. We expect from the candidate excellent scientific skills and a strong interest in instrumentation and methodologies. Understanding of basic physics and technical matters will be appreciated. Experience in protein purification, crystallisation, X-Ray data collection at synchrotrons, X-ray data processing, structure solution and model building is required. Strong motivation and excellent scientific skills are essential, as well a willingness to support synchrotron users and to collaborate with external institutes in Europe. The candidate should be comfortable working in a multidisciplinary team, and in an international environment.Fluency in English is required.
Application Deadline:
06 March 2011
Contact:
HR Department,
recruitment@embl.org
