Post-doc (TB), University of Birmingham, July 2018

Post-doctoral Research Associate (TB) 

Employer: University of Birmingham, UK

Job Type: Fixed term appointment for 36 months

The Institute of Microbiology and Infection (IMI), within the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham is seeking to appoint an outstanding, highly motivated individual for the position of a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) to deliver on a high-profile BBSRC-funded project to investigate the mechanisms of glycoconjugate translocation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and their roles in virulence. This project will clarify which ABC transporter systems are essential, define the molecular genetics that govern the translocation of key glycoconjuate molecules in the mycobacterial cell envelope prior to final biosynthetic maturation and determine their roles in Mtb virulence. 

This is a fixed term appointment for 36 months in first instance working in the group of Dr Luke Alderwick within the IMI, School of 
Biosciences, University of Birmingham
. The project also involves close collaboration Profs Del Besra and Robin May (University of Birmingham) and Public Health England. As a result, the PDRA will be expected to liaise with the collaborative partners and may have to be available to collect data and take part in activities in the partner laboratories.

The appointee is to work within the framework of the BBSRC funded project and to use a combination of molecular biology and analytical chemistry approaches to investigate how intermediate glycoconjugate precursors are flipped across the cytoplasmic membrane of mycobacteria. The on going global threat of MDR and XDR forms of TB highlights the timeliness of this proposal, which falls directly under the BBSRC responsive mode priority area ‘Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)’. We envisage that the results of this project will have a direct impact on the AMR community with the potential to lead to new approaches in the combat of drug resistant TB and better understand mechanisms of infection and virulence.

The project will involve molecular biology of Mycobacteria (constructing genetic knock outs/knock downs), phenotypic characterisation of mutants (radiochemical labelling, analytical chemistry including Mass Spectrometry and NMR), transcriptomics (RNA-seq) and macrophage infection studies. The project would suit a highly motivated and committed scientist interested in using these techniques to better understand the molecular physiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with the long-term goal of discovering new drug targets to treat TB. 

As the successful candidate, you should possess a PhD degree in biochemistry/molecular biology/microbiology and have demonstrable experience and peer reviewed publication(s) in molecular microbiology (specifically Mycobacteria), generating knock-out/knock-down mutants and phenotypic characterisation. Experience in Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) containment is desirable.

Experience in bacterial cell envelope biochemistry, macrophage infection studies and cytokine release assays will be a distinct advantage.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Dr Luke Alderwick l.alderwick@bham.ac.uk phone 0121 4145472).

You can find the full job description, and apply for the role, here.

Closing date: 16 July 2018