Research Fellow (Biological Sciences)

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Job Description

The successful candidate will join Prof Sivaraman's laboratory in the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The position involves working on a structural biology project aimed at elucidating the structure and function of Type III secretion system (T3SS) effectors and their protein complexes. This research is supported by a Ministry of Education-funded Tier 2 project focused on understanding the structure and function of a critical virulence factor from pathogenic Escherichia coli.

Bacterial secretion systems are essential for delivering proteins, small molecules, and DNA into the extracellular environment or directly into host cells. Thirteen classes of secretion systems have been identified, with the Type III secretion system being one of the most widely used by Gram-negative pathogens to inject virulence effector proteins into host cells and initiate infection.

The successful candidate is responsible for producing and characterizing proteins for structural and functional studies. Working closely with other members of the research team, the candidate will contribute to elucidating molecular mechanisms and addressing key biological questions central to the project.

Qualifications

Ph.D in Structural Biology.

Skills:

• The candidate is expected to have strong wet-lab and computational skills. In the wet lab, the candidate should be able to independently clone, express, purify, and characterize recombinant proteins using heterologous expression systems.

Experience:

• Experience with E. coli, insect cell, and mammalian cell expression systems is an advantage.
• The candidate should also have knowledge of and hands-on experience in structural biology techniques, including protein crystallization and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), as well as data collection, processing, structure determination, and structural analysis to guide structure-based functional studies.
• In addition, the candidate will be expected to coordinate with collaborators laboratories to carry out functional experiments.