Postdoc Position: Optical control of photoswitchable membrane peptides

by biofisica · 29/01/2017

2 years postdoc position

The Biomembranes group at the Institute of Molecular Science – ICMol (Universitat de València) offers a 2-years postdoctoral position within the founded project Optical control of folding, membrane insertion and biological activity of photoswitchable hydrophobic peptides.

In addition, We will also support excellent candidates who are willing to apply to external funding sources.

Our gold is to engineer optical control of membrane binding, folding and insertion of hydrophobic and amphiphilic protein fragments, with the aims to understand these processes at the atomic level and be able to manipulate them for the purpose of practical applications. We will use a variety of photoswitchable peptides and study their response to light in model membranes (SUVs, LUVs, and GUVs). For their characterization we will rely on a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches, such as steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopies (FTIR, CD, UV-vis, Raman), fluorescence confocal microscopy, molecular dynamics simulations, or spectral calculations

Required qualifications and experience

A PhD in Sciences (received in the last 4 years)
A solid background in theoretical/computational biophysics
Experience in classical molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecules
Strong interest in linking simulations and experiments

Experience in QM simulations, semi-empirical or ab initio calculation of vibrational spectra, good programming skills, and basic knowledge of experimental biophysical techniques will be favorably considered.

How to apply

Applications and informal queries about the position and the project should be addressed by e-mail to Victor Lorenz Fonfria, using the subject “OptoMembrane Postdoc”. Please, include CV, cover letter and names and contact information of two scientist willing to write a recommendation letter.