PhD position at the Institute of Biotechnology / University of Helsinki, Finland
The laboratory of Ville Paavilainen at the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki is looking for graduate students for several projects. The goal of the group is to understand the function of the mammalian secretory machinery, and more broadly to identify new mechanisms for protein targeting in the cell. Further, we are exploring the possibility to target the secretory protein biogenesis process for therapeutic benefit.
Possible projects in the lab include high-content analysis of protein targeting motifs, their utilization as a novel "druggability" feature, and elucidation of the cell biological and biochemical role of many ancillary secretory factors with unknown functions. The available projects are funded by a grant from the Academy of Finland and other funding sources and will be discussed in detail during the interview of selected candidates.
Applicants with a strong background in cell biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics or a related field, are encouraged to apply. Good communication skills and fluency in spoken and written English are required.
Recent publications:
Bradshaw, J.M., McFarland, J.M., Paavilainen, V.O., Bisconte, A., Tam, D., Phan, V.T., Romanov, S., Finkle, D., Shu, J., Patel, V., et al. (2015). Prolonged and tunable residence time using reversible covalent kinase inhibitors. Nat Chem Biol.
MacKinnon, A.L., Paavilainen, V.O., Sharma, A., Hegde, R.S., and Taunton, J. (2014). An allosteric Sec61 inhibitor traps nascent transmembrane helices at the lateral gate. Elife 3, e01483.
Miller, R.M., Paavilainen, V.O., Krishnan, S., Serafimova, I.M., and Taunton, J. (2013). Electrophilic fragment-based design of reversible covalent kinase inhibitors. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135, 5298-5301.
Paavilainen, V.O., and Taunton, J. (2013). Proteostasis modulators with discriminating taste. Chem. Biol. 20, 144-145.
For more information, e-mail: Ville.Paavilainen-at-helsinki.fi http://www.biocenter.helsinki.fi/bi/paavilainen
The deadline for applications is 30 September 2015, or until suitable candidates are found. Please, follow this link for the application form: https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/62839/lomake.html