PhD student in Structural Biology

Rekryterades externt genom Marie Curie Konsortium. 

Annonstext nedan:

PhD student in Structural Biology
Are you interested in working with RNA cryoEM and X-ray crystallography, with the support of competent and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a PhD position at Uppsala University.

The Department of Cell and Molecular Biology is divided into seven research programs that focus on different areas within cell and molecular biology: computational biology and bioinformatics, microbiology, molecular biology, molecular biophysics, molecular evolution, molecular systems biology and structural biology. The scientific basis of what we do is in biology, but our research overlaps with other fields such as medicine, computer science, mathematics, chemistry, engineering and physics. The department has over 200 employees with around 60 PhD students. Please read more about the organization's work at https://icm.uu.se.

The PhD student recruited through this call will work in Marco Marcia’s research group. Marco Marcia leads a research group in structural and cell biology and RNA biochemistry. The group works with RNA cryoEM and X-ray crystallography, coupled to RNA chemical probing, mutagenesis, cellular functional assays, and RNA-protein interaction techniques. These are used to understand structure-function relationships in large catalytic and regulatory non-coding RNAs involved in bacterial and fungal infections, cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders. The student will work in an international and dynamic environment with great opportunities to learn new techniques. We will have a well-equipped lab, in house access to a Glacios cryoEM microscope, and access to national SciLifeLab facilities in structural biology, proteomics, genomics, chemical biology, genetic engineering, and imaging in Uppsala, Stockholm, and Gothenburg.

Duties
We will apply cryo-EM and integrative structural biology and biochemical approaches (X-ray, SAXS) to characterize binding of small molecule inhibitors to bacterial and fungal ribozymes and regulatory UTR regions. We will use cutting edge cryo-EM sample preparation, data acquisition and data processing approaches to capture these small-molecule-bound RNAs at high resolution, visualizing how the compounds impede catalysis and modulate the structural dynamics of the target RNAs. The targets consist of ~400-800 nucleotides and adopt highly structured 3D fold. Useful references: Marcia and Pyle, Cell, 2012; Manigrasso et al, Nat Comm, 2020; Manigrasso et al, Chem, 2021; Martin et al, TIPS, 2021; Silvestri et al, Nat Comm, 2024. 

Requirements
To meet the entry requirements for doctoral studies, you must

• - hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree, or
• - have completed at least 240 credits in higher education, with at least 60 credits at Master’s level including an independent project worth at least 15 credits, or
• - have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way.

Additional qualifications
Provided that the above course requirements are met, the special eligibility can be obtained through studies in the natural science, biomedicine or engineering programs. Equivalent knowledge can also be acquired in other ways in Sweden or abroad.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 2025-02-01 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala

For further information about the position, please contact: Marco Marcia, marco.marcia@icm.uu.se

Are you considering moving to Sweden to work at Uppsala University? Find out more about what it´s like to work and live in Sweden.