Postdoctoral Researcher - Mechanistic Cell Biology

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology

Dortmund, Germany

We are recruiting a Postdoctoral Researcher (m/f/d) to join the laboratory of Prof. Andrea Musacchio in the Department of Mechanistic Cell Biology at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, Germany. This is a fixed-term appointment for 36 months in the first instance, with possible extension thereafter.

We are looking for a talented, ambitious postdoctoral researcher to join an 8-year Wellcome Trust-funded team project. The goal is to study a fundamental property of all phosphorylation sites, for which almost nothing is currently known: the speed at which individual molecules are phosphorylated and dephosphorylated over time. The interdisciplinary team assembled to tackle this has expertise in kinase and phosphatase signalling (Adrian Saurin, University of Dundee), mass spectrometry (Tony Ly, University of Dundee) and biochemical reconstitutions (Andrea Musacchio in Dortmund). These approaches will be used to study how dynamic phosphorylation sites that continually “flash” on and off regulate key signalling properties during mitosis. A major goal is to understand how these sites are important to regulate kinetochores and chromosome segregation, and why this may fail to drive cancer progression. This position is primarily to use biochemical reconstitutions in vitro, but there is the possibility for the candidate to transition between labs and learn mass spectrometry and cell biology.

Priorities will include

• Examining how mitosis is regulated by dynamic phosphorylation sites;
• Using complex biochemical reconstitutions of mitotic pathways, such as those that trigger the spindle checkpoint and microtubule attachment errors, to unravel global de/phosphorylation rates;
• Working effectively and collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary team.

Who we are looking for

• A highly motivated and ambitious postdoctoral researcher with a passion for science;
• Motivated, honest, hard-working, collaborative, organized;
• A candidate with a PhD in a relevant scientific area, with at least one first-author publication;
• A strong scientific background in biochemistry with experience in relevant techniques and/or working on mitosis.