Postdoctoral Associate in Structural Biology and Biophysics

Postdoctoral Associate in Structural Biology and Biophysics

The Deaconescu Lab at Rutgers University has one opening for a postdoctoral researcher. The laboratory's interests lie primarily in microbial stress responses, with particular emphasis on responses to DNA damage, the mechanochemistry of DNA-based motors. We utilize a combination of biochemical, biophysical and structural techniques. (e.g. X-ray crystallography, small-angle X-ray scattering, transmission electron microscopy). For examples of work, please see Brugger et al.

JBC (2023, 2024), Brugger et al. Nature Communications (2020), Dorich et al, Genes Development (2019), Vemu et al. Science (2018), Le TT et al. Cell (2018) etc. More information about the lab can be obtained at

Position Status
- Full Time

Qualifications

Minimum Education and Experience - A successful postdoctoral candidate should hold a PhD in structural biology, biochemistry, biophysics or related field and have an established track-record of publications in peer-reviewed journals, solid experience with protein biochemistry. Prior knowledge of crystallography and/or single-particle electron microscopy is highly desirable. Must be highly motivated and work independently as well as in a team. Excellent spoken and written English are required.

New Ph.D. graduates are particularly encouraged to apply.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Proficiency in molecular biology, protein expression and protein purification, characterization of protein and protein-nucleic acids complexes using various biophysical methods (for example: EMSA, ITC, AUC, FLUORESCENCE ANISOTROPY, BLI, MST, CD etc.). Experience with assay development and molecular microbiology a plus. Research experience in crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is desirable, however not required. The selected candidate will obtain appropriate training in crystallization and crystallographic computing, microscope alignments, data acquisition, image processing and structure calculation using a variety of cryo-EM software.

The candidate should be comfortable using Linux. Strong written and oral communication skills in English, as well as the ability to prepare scientific manuscripts and grant proposals, work independently and collaborate with other scientists are required.

Equipment Utilized
- Standard laboratory equipment including Biorad NGC pure purification systems, Mosquito crystallization robot, centrifuges, PCR cyclers, Gel Doc and cell culture incubators. Kulczyk group has several Mac workstations suitable for scientific computing and general manuscript preparation. The Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine houses the state-of-the-art cryo-EM facility:
Thermo Fisher Scientific Talos Arctica cryo-EM equipped with a Summit K2 direct electron detector, Bio Quantum energy filter and a Volta phase plate;
Aquilos 2 cryo-FIB/SEM;
Leica DM6 FS/EM cryo-CLEM system; NMR facility (Bruker 800 MHz and 700 MHz with cryoprobes and two 600 MHz spectrometers); mass spectrometry and super-resolution imaging facilities, and is the world headquarters of the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics (RCSB) consortium and the Protein Data Bank (PDB).