Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in Prof. Alison Smith's lab as part of the Cambridge OpenPlant Synthetic Biology Centre. OpenPlant is a joint initiative between the University of Cambridge, John Innes Centre, TSL and the Earlham Institute, funded by BBSRC and EPSRC, which promotes interdisciplinary exchange, open technologies and responsible innovation for sustainable agriculture and conservation.
This position is aimed at generating novel regulatory elements based on riboswitches for plant and algal biotechnology. Riboswitches are sequences within the mRNA that respond to metabolites or other small molecules to alter production of the encoded protein, and offer flexible and tuneable elements to control transgene expression.
You will join the multidisciplinary team in central Cambridge at the Department of Plant Sciences, where the group focuses on a range of algal molecular biology and biotechnology projects. The principal tasks will be:
i) To identify riboswitches from diverse organisms that have already been characterised and shown to regulate transgene expression in their native hosts. These RNA sensors will be used in the generation of new expression platforms that allow metabolite-inducible expression of transgenes. To meet this objective the design, construction and testing of the different elements of these expression platforms will follow synthetic biology principled approaches.
ii) To test the responsiveness of the different riboswitches for the control of transgene expression in different photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms (including microalgae and plants).
Experience in recombinant DNA techniques is essential. Knowledge of systems or synthetic biology is highly desirable, as is familiarity with microbiology, metabolic engineering, and/or metabolism. The successful candidate should have the capacity to communicate effectively, work as part of a team, and take a lead role in the design and execution of the research programme as required. In addition, the PDRA will be expected to be involved in supporting junior scientists in the laboratory. You should hold a PhD in a relevant subject.
- Salary: £29,301-£38,183
- Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 2 years, in the first instance.
- Closing date: 21 April 2017
- Download: Further details
- You can apply online for this vacancy. You will need to register an account (if you have not already) and log in before completing the online application form.
- Please upload your CV with publication list, and covering letter to support your application.
- Please quote reference PD11744 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.
The interviews are scheduled to be held in the week beginning 8 May 2017.
Please note if you have not received any news from us 1 month after the closing date you should consider that on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful.
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