[3dem] Post-Doc at MPI: organization of proteins in native membranes by in situ cryo-ET

[Ben Engel]

Hi everyone,

I have a post-doc position available in my group in the Baumeister
department at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, near Munich.  This
position is fully funded for three years by a grant from the DFG.  The
start date is fairly flexible, but would preferably be by the beginning of
2018.

Combining cryo-FIB milling of vitreous cells with cryo-ET, we are now able
to visualize all of the major photosynthetic protein complexes within
native thylakoid membranes.  This is not yet published, but to get an idea
of some membrane complexes visualized by this technique, see Fig. 7 of
Schaffer, 2017: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/
article/pii/S1047847716301514?via%3Dihub#f0045.  Also check this older
paper's CCD tomograms, which did not resolve photosynthetic complexes but
should give a good feeling for the thylakoid membrane architecture that we
are studying: https://elifesciences.org/articles/04889.

The post-doc will take a leading role in our in situ studies of the
chloroplast.  Two primary goals are to:

1) Develop a robust tool for analyzing the organization of membrane
complexes within cellular tomograms.  We already have some decent
approaches to this, but they need to be improved and combined into a
streamlined package that can be routinely applied to address new biological
questions.

2) Generate and analyze tomograms from cells under different conditions,
including during thylakoid biogenesis (where new complexes are being
inserted into membranes) and state transitions (where complexes move to
different membrane regions in response to changing light conditions).
There are also several important mutants that we will study.  Initial work
will be performed in the green alga Chlamydomonas, but we also plan to
expand to higher plants and diatoms, which play a major photosynthetic role
in the ocean.

I am looking for someone with a strong computational background, who is
comfortable with addressing questions of geometry and spatial organization
using Matlab or Python.  Experience with cryo-EM structure determination
(single particle or subtomo averaging) is a plus.  Experience with cryo-EM
data acquisition would also be useful, but is not required.  We can teach
you how to FIB-mill cells and take tomograms.  An ideal candidate might be
someone who is strong in computation, but would like an opportunity to "get
their hands dirty" and learn high-resolution cellular tomography.

For more details or to apply, contact me at: engelben at biochem.mpg.de.  The
application should include:

1) A short 1-2 paragraph introduction about your background and what you
would like to get out of the post-doc.  What are your strengths, and what
would you like to learn?

2) A full-length CV, including list of publications and the contact
information for two references.

I will begin evaluating applications on September 7.

Best wishes,
Ben


---
Dr. Benjamin Engel
Department of Molecular Structural Biology
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry

engelben at biochem.mpg.de
+49 89 8578-2653
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.ncmir.ucsd.edu/pipermail/3dem/attachments/20170817/a76c4f16/attachment.html>