Postdoctoral position

At the VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology (Vrije Universiteit Brussel / VIB), we are looking for a highly qualified and motivated postdoctoral researcher with a strong background in Cryo-EM and/or X-ray crystallography, biochemistry and biophysics, and interested in biochemical and structural studies on bacterial persistence pathways.

Project description:

Due to the development of resistance to antibiotics, bacterial infections are becoming more life-threatening every year. In addition to resistance, bacterial persistence offers an important means to avoid clearance of infections. Persisters are formed by phenotypic switching to an antibiotic-tolerant state, rendering a small subset of cells within an isogenic population capable of surviving antibiotic treatment. Within this ongoing research project we want to gain more insight into the mechanisms of persistence by unravelling the associated molecular pathways down to atomic resolution (e.g. Verstraeten et al.Mol. Cell 2015; Gkekas et al. J. Biol. Chem. 2017; Verstraeten et al. Mol. Microbiol. 2019). The project is part of an interdisciplinary Excellence of Science program in collaboration with the teams of Jan Michiels, R gis Hallez, Fran oise Van Bambeke, Steven Ballet and J rg Vogel. Within this consortium you will use single particle cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography, in combination with biophysical methods and enzyme kinetics, to gain insight in the role of important persistence proteins and their interactions. This information will subsequently be used to intervene with these proteins and processes to devise new potential therapeutic strategies.

Required skills and experience:

• PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Bio-engineering or equivalent
• Strong background in protein expression, purification and characterization
• Experience in Cryo-EM and/or X-ray crystallography is mandatory
• Proficient in written and spoken English
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills

The VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology focusses on the structure and dynamics of macromolecular complexes in health and disease. Our multidisciplinary team of about 100 researchers is housed in new laboratory facilities and combines extensive expertise in structural biology (state of the art in-house cryo-EM, X-ray crystallography, NMR, SAXS, and atomic force microscopy), biophysics, enzymology and molecular biology.