Postdoctoral Fellow Position in Structural Biology of Innate Immune Response

A postdoctoral fellow position is immediately available in the Structural Immunobiology section, Laboratory of Immunology (NIAID/NIH) for a highly motivated individual with a strong interest in signaling mechanisms of the innate immune responses. The innate immune system serves as the gatekeeper and coordinator for the defense against microbe infections. One of the paradox of the innate immune receptors is that they are specific for each class of pathogen antigens, whereas not too stringent to render them non-responsive to similar but different epitopes. How do the receptors achieve such “broad” specificity is among the most important questions structural biologists could strive to answer. The projects aim to elucidate how the pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) sense pathogenic epitopes and how this recognition initiates downstream signaling cascades to direct appropriate responses against various pathogens. One of the best approaches to decipher the signalin!
g network is through studying protein-protein interactions involved in the crosstalk, using X-ray crystallography integrated into other biophysical and biochemical techniques. Elucidating the signaling mechanisms in innate immune response has important implications in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and cancer.

The lab will be primarily structure oriented, complemented with functional studies. The section is fully funded and equipped with state-of-the-art protein expression, purification and crystallization instruments. There is regularly scheduled beam time slot for NIH at the APS synchrotron for data collection. There are also numerous opportunities for collaboration and acquiring new skills among the 27 Institutes and Centers at NIH with one of the most diverse groups of international researchers.

The ideal candidate must have a Ph.D. in biochemistry/biophysics/X-ray crystallography or a related field, and extensive experience in molecular biology and protein expression/purification. Knowledge in crystallization, data collection, phasing, model building and refinement, and structure analysis is desirable but not required. The candidate must possess excellent writing and oral communication skills, and will be expected to work in a diverse and collaborative environment. Salary will be highly competitive and commensurate with experience and in the $40,000 range, supplemented with excellent fringe benefits.

For inquiries, please contact:

Tsan Xiao, Ph.D.
Chief, Structural Immunobiology Section
Laboratory of Immunology
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
Building 4, Room 138
4 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
Phone: 301-594-2096
FAX: 301-480-1291
E-mail: xiaot@niaid.nih.gov