Postdoctor in pharmacology - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

More than 350 teachers, doctors, researchers and doctoral students work at the Department of Neuroscience, in both clinical and basic scientific disciplines. The Department has activities at the University Hospital and at Uppsala University Biomedical Center. The position will be placed at the Uppsala University Hospital, where the clinical scientific disciplines, including psychiatry are hosted. More information regarding the Department of Neuroscience: https://www.neuro.uu.se

Project description: The large superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) contains hundreds of members of immense physiological and pharmacological importance. This project aims to investigate the detailed mechanisms of ligand selectivity and receptor activation for amine GPCRs. The goal is to identify the receptor positions that allow certain ligands to activate the receptors and the positions that preclude activation by other ligands. The focus is on receptors in the dopamine family and what distinguishes them from the related noradrenaline family. The aim is also to deduce the diversification of the dopamine and noradrenline receptor families during vertebrate evolution.

The project is a collaboration between four research teams, two at Uppsala University, one at the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm) and one at the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm). Together the teams cover a broad range of expertise in molecular biology, evolutionary biology, receptor pharmacology, cell biology, structural modelling and in vivo pharmacology.

Duties: We are recruiting a pharmacologist for a postdoctoral employment to use evolutionary sequence comparisons of receptor subtypes combined with structural modelling to identify residues potentially important for ligand selectivity and receptor activation. Mutagenesis will be used to investigate the importance of the identified positions by functional expression in cultured cell lines of the mutagenized receptors, binding studies and signal transduction measurements. This information will be used to design receptors with special desired properties.

Qualifications: The applicant shall have a PhD degree and expertise in sequence analysis, mutagenesis, functional expression, receptor binding assays and signal trans-duction assays. Structural modelling will be done in collaboration with the collaboration partners. Good English language skills and good ability to work in a team are required. The PhD degree must have been obtained no more than three years prior to the application deadline. This three year period can be longer if there are circumstances such as sick leave, parental leave, duties in labour unions, etc.

The application should include

• A short letter with a description of your research interests and how you could contribute to the project.
• CV with complete publication list.
• Copy of PhD certificate.
• Contact information for at least two references (email and phone number).

Salary: Individual salary.

Starting date: 16th of November or as otherwise agreed.

Type of employment: Temporary position for 2 years.

Scope of employment: 100 %

For further information about the position please contact: Professor Dan Larhammar dan.larhammar@neuro.uu.se

Website: https://www.neuro.uu.se/research/research-groups/dan-larhammar/

Please submit your application by 21 October 2020, UFV-PA 2020/3457.