At a Glance
- Tasks: Acquire and analyse data using techniques like smFRET, NMR, and proteomics to study OMP chaperoning.
- Company: Join the Faculty of Biological Sciences at a leading university focused on innovative research.
- Benefits: Salary ranges from £41,064 to £48,822 p.a. with flexible working arrangements available.
- Other info: This is a fixed-term position for a maximum of 13 months, based on the university campus.
- Why this job: Contribute to critical research on antibiotic resistance and its implications for antimicrobial development.
- Qualifications: PhD in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biophysics or related field is required, with experience in structural biology.
The predicted salary is between 41064 - 48822 £ per year.
Research Fellow in Integrative Structural Molecular Biology/Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences. Salary: Grade 7 (£41,064 - £48,822 p.a.). Available on a fixed-term basis for a maximum of 13 months (1 July 2026 - 31 July 2027) to complete specific time-limited work. This role will be based on the university campus. Flexible working arrangements can be discussed.
Project context: Antibiotic resistance is projected to cause 10 million deaths per year by 2050. The outer membrane (OM) of gram-negative pathogens acts as a defence against antibiotics. This project studies how outer membrane proteins (OMPs) reach the OM, how chaperones facilitate OMP delivery, and how the β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) folds/inserts its clients into the OM. The focus is on the periplasmic chaperone SurA, including hotspot regions critical for OMP recognition and questions about sequence determinants, conformational ensemble modulation, and the impact of mutations on OM targeting and delivery to BAM. This work aims to inform antimicrobial development by perturbing OM assembly or sensitising bacteria to antibiotics.
You will be based in the laboratories of Dr Antonio Calabrese, Professor Sheena Radford and Dr Anastasia Zhurvaleva, working closely with collaborators at Leeds.
Responsibilities:
- Acquire, analyse and integrate data from diverse experimental techniques (including smFRET, proteomics, NMR) and computational approaches (e.g., AlphaFold) to characterise complex systems involved in OMP chaperoning by SurA and delivery to BAM.
- Investigate how SurA recognises OMPs, determines sequence determinants for OMP recognition, and how communication between binding sites is achieved (using NMR, ITC, native MS, peptide arrays).
- Examine how SurA modulates the conformational ensemble of its OMP clients and remodels them to remain folding-competent (using smFRET, HX-MS, NMR and other methods).
- Assess how mutations in key hotspot regions alter the range of OMPs in the OM and whether different hotspots are responsible for binding and delivering different OMPs to BAM (using proteomics and crosslinking-MS).
- Contribute to the broader project goal that deletion of SurA leads to OM defects, reduced pathogenicity, and loss of OM integrity, informing potential antimicrobial targets.
Qualifications:
- You should have a PhD (or be close to completion) in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biophysics or a related discipline.
- Interest in analytical techniques with significant experience in structural biology and/or biophysics is essential.
- Training in areas not yet mastered will be provided.
Research Fellow in Integrative Structural Molecular Biology/Biochemistry in Leeds employer: University of Leeds
The Faculty of Biological Sciences offers a collaborative environment with access to cutting-edge facilities. Located on a vibrant university campus, the team focuses on impactful research addressing global health challenges, including antibiotic resistance. Flexible working arrangements support work-life balance.
