[3dem] Postdoc positions in amyloid structures and method development

[Gunnar Schroeder]

The Computational Structural Biology Group at the Forschungszentrum Julich (Germany)
has an opening for two postdoc positions. 

Our group works both on the application of cryo-EM to determine protein structures and also on method development. 

The focus of structure determination projects is on amyloid proteins that are involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.  These proteins typical form fibrils, but the structures of other aggregates (e.g. oligomers and membrane receptor complexes) are also of high interest to understand the pathology of these diseases.

The method development projects aim at improving image processing (e.g. image classification, elastic volume registration), molecular modeling and refinement of protein structures, in particular with low- or intermediate resolution data. 

Potential projects:

— Determination of amyloid structures by cryo-EM.  Based on our recent work (Gremer et al. Science (2017); http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aao2825), we aim to study other polymorphs of Abeta as well as other protein fibrils.

— New approaches for the classification of cryo-EM images of fibrils to improve helical reconstructions.

— Extending our new software tool (EMfasa) for de novo modeling of protein structures into low-resolution density maps. 

Candidates should have a PhD in physics, chemistry, biochemistry, biology, or computer science. Experience in electron microscopy and image processing is highly desired.  All projects require a solid computational background.   For method development projects, a solid programming background is required (C++ / Python).  For the development of molecular modeling methods a background in modeling or atomistic simulations is an advantage. 

The application should include a brief statement of research interests, CV and names of 2-3 references and should be send by email to Gunnar Schroeder (gu.schroeder at fz-juelich.de).  For further information visit  www.schroderlab.org  and  
http://www.fz-juelich.de/ics/ics-6/EN/Home/home_node.html .