Postdoctoral Fellow

Postdoctoral fellow positions are available in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, & Kidney diseases (NIDDK) in the National Institutes of Health, USA. The current research is focused on protein quality control mechanisms safeguarding neuronal functions during aging. The fellow is expected to lead an independent research project, dissecting how eukaryotic cells cope with various disease-associated toxic proteins such as alpha-synuclein using a combination of super-resolution microscopy, CRISPR genetic screens, genomic tools, structure-based functional assays, iPSC-derived neuron, and fruit fly models. Examples of recently completed studies include unconventional secretion of misfolded proteins (Nature Cell Biology 2016; Cell Discovery, 2018; Autophagy 2023), the processing of extracellular protein tau and alpha-synuclein aggregates (PNAS, 2020; Nature Communications, 2021), the role of ubiquitin-fold modifier (UFM1) in ribosome-associated quality control at the endoplasmic reticulum (Cell Research, 2020; Cell Reports, 2023), the function of heparan sulfate proteoglycan in SARS-CoV-2 cell entry and cell-cell fusion (Cell Discovery 2022; Nature Communications, in press).

A Ph.D. degree (within the last 5 years) with a strong background in cell biology and/or biochemistry (as demonstrated by publications) is required. Experience in neurobiology or model organisms is a plus but not required.

The NIH is dedicated to building a community in its training and employment programs and encourages the application and nomination of qualified women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities.

It offers an outstanding research environment with many opportunities to collaborate. Salary and benefits are highly competitive.