Post Doctoral.Post Doctoral.Associate

About the role

The Sun Lab in the Department of Structural Biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral associate to join a collaborative research program in cellular in situ structural biology. This position will be recruited in close collaboration with Dr. Rui Zhang’s laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis.

Responsibilities

• Use advanced cellular imaging, high-resolution structural biology, and computational image analysis to investigate the organization and function of macromolecular assemblies in their native cellular environment.
• Contribute to current projects focusing on understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate ciliary and flagellar biogenesis, protein trafficking, and organelle organization using the single-celled eukaryotic parasite Trypanosoma brucei as a model system.
• Collaborate with Dr. Rui Zhang’s laboratory to integrate expertise in cryo-electron tomography, cryo-focused ion beam milling, single-particle cryo-EM, fluorescence microscopy, molecular and cellular biology, and computational structural analysis.
• Develop expertise in in situ structural biology through projects tailored to cellular cryo-ET, single particle cryo-EM, or computational analysis, depending on the candidate’s background and career goals.

Requirements

• PhD in related field
• Experience in cryo-electron tomography, cryo-EM, electron microscopy, or cryo-FIB milling
• Experience in image processing, segmentation, subtomogram averaging, single-particle cryo-EM, or computational structural biology
• Experience in fluorescence microscopy, quantitative cell biology, molecular genetics, or cell biological approaches
• Experience in ciliary/flagellar biology, protein trafficking, parasite cell biology, or organelle biogenesis
• Interest in applying structural and cellular approaches to disease-relevant biological questions

Qualifications

• Strong background in cell biology, structural biology, microscopy, biophysics, computational analysis, parasitology, or related fields
• Interest in developing expertise in in situ structural biology

Skills

• Experimental design
• Advanced imaging
• Image processing
• Quantitative analysis
• Manuscript preparation
• Grant writing
• Career development

Benefits

• Outstanding environment for structural and cell biology
• Access to advanced cryo-EM/cryo-ET instrumentation, cryo-FIB milling, light microscopy, and a highly collaborative biomedical research community
• Strong training in experimental design, advanced imaging, image processing, quantitative analysis, manuscript preparation, grant writing, and career development
• Opportunities to interact closely with both the Sun Lab and Dr. Rui Zhang’s laboratory
• Mentorship, collaboration, and an inclusive and supportive research environment

Pay

N/A

Schedule

N/A