University of Dundee Postdoctoral Positions (3)

1. Postdoctoral Research Fellow

University of Dundee - Biological Sciences

Location:	Dundee
Salary:	£34,308 to £42,155 (Grade 7)
Hours:	Full Time
Contract Type:	Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On:	20th December 2022
Closes:	19th April 2023
Job Ref:	262

The School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee is a world-class academic institution with a reputation for the excellence of its research, its high quality teaching and student experience, and the strong impact of its activities outside academia. With 900 staff from over 60 countries worldwide the School provides a dynamic, multi-national, collegiate and diverse environment with state-of-the-art laboratory, technology and teaching facilities.

We are inviting applications for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to work in the lab of Jin Rui Liang at the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC PPU).

The Liang lab is interested in understanding the fundamental pathways and mechanisms that regulate endoplasmic reticulum-specific autophagy, or ER-phagy (Liang et al. TCB, 2022;). The ER is tightly controlled by many sophisticated quality control pathways, including the ER-associated degradation (ERAD) and unfolded protein response (UPR) pathways. In recent years, it has been shown that damaged or superfluous ER can also be specifically degraded via ER-phagy (Liang et al. Cell, 2020; Liang et al. JCB, 2018). Clinical mutations of ER-phagy regulators are associated with pathologies such as neurodevelopmental defects, pancreatic stress, and cancer. Our recent genome-wide CRISPR screening data suggest! that sev eral oncogenes could also drive ER-phagy, suggesting that ER-phagy might mediate cancer progression. Please visit the Liang lab website (https://www.ppu.mrc.ac.uk/research/principal-investigator/jin-rui-amos-liang) for more information.

The successful applicant will be working on characterising the signalling pathway and mechanistic contribution of ER-phagy toward cancer progression. This project is funded by a Cancer Research UK grant awarded recently to the lab. The position will be available for a year with a possibility for a 4-year extension upon review.

Summary of Skills, Experience and Qualifications

Candidates will be expected to have a strong knowledge of fundamental cell biology and cancer biology. In particular, a background in;

• protein and organelle quality control
• autophagy, and
• transcriptional regulations are desirable.

Candidates will also need to demonstrate a track record of research productivity and have demonstrated an ability to work independently, enthusiasm for research, and excellent verbal and written communication skills. The successful candidate will employ a highly multidisciplinary approach, with techniques including:

• CRISPR-based genetic manipulations,
• quantitative proteomics,
• high-resolution and live-cell imaging,
• mass spectrometry, and
• transcriptomics

to address exciting questions about the mechanisms and function of ER-phagy during cancer progression. Therefore, expertise in one or more of these areas will be highly desirable.

Appointment as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant on the Grade 7 salary scale is dependent upon you having been awarded a PhD. An appointment may be considered if you are shortly expected to be awarded a PhD. In this case, the initial appointment would be made as a Research Assistant on the Training Grade 7 salary scale (Spinal Point 25 – 28).

Additional Information

For further information about this position please contact Dr. Jin Rui Liang at JLiang001@dundee.ac.uk. 

The diversity of our staff and students helps to make the University of Dundee one of the top universities in the UK. Family friendly policies, staff support networks for BME and LGBT staff, membership of Athena Swan and Stonewall, as well a full range of disability services, create an enjoyable and inclusive place to work.

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2. Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Global Water Data Science

University of Dundee - Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science

Location:	Dundee
Salary:	£34,308 to £40,931
Hours:	Full Time
Contract Type:	Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On:	28th December 2022
Closes:	25th January 2023
Job Ref:	273

Three years fixed-term (2023 – 2026) GRADE 7 - £34,308 - £40,931 (1.0 FTE)

Responsible to: The Director, UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science

We are seeking an exceptional individual to join us as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow Global Water Data Science – within the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, University of Dundee. The Centre is a pan-institutional interdisciplinary initiative, established in 2008.

The postholder will join the core team and will build technical and data analytical capacity within the Centre, inclusive of the network of UNESCO Associates distributed throughout the University. There are also major collaborative opportunities working with the broader international UNESCO water family in pursuit of equitable access and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, consistent with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The Postdoctoral Research Fellow Global Water Data Science will be responsible for analysing water resources, land use, technology and climate change relations over scales spanning the global to the local. You will promote and coordinate the use of geospatial intelligence in the field of global water resources using model-based prediction, optimization and data-enabled decision-support. You will be expected to participate in collaborative science with project partners, to play an important role in mentoring postgraduate researchers (PGRs) and undertake professional development activities in consultation with the Director of the Centre. Familiarity and expertise in open-source approaches, application programming interfaces, code repositories and reproducible documentation are expected.

As this is a strategic capacity building appointment, you will enjoy considerable autonomy to develop your own research interests aligned to the Centre’s founding mission. There is an expectation that this will lead to the publication of excellent papers in peer-reviewed literature, and you should actively seek external grant funding. There will be opportunities to collaborate in the development of new training and teaching programmes.

Your priorities will include:

• Advance the university’s excellence agenda in regard of internationally leading research into global water resources and ongoing environmental change;
• Develop digital infrastructure supporting the Centre’s operations and coordinate the creation and delivery of online spatial data services and visualizations;
• Publishing results in peer reviewed journals and presenting at relevant national and international conferences;
• Develop grant proposals for external funding support;
• Contribute to positively building the Centre’s external relations profile by producing regular updates for newsletters, social media, website etc.

Who we’re looking for:

• PhD in geographical, earth or environmental sciences, engineering, information and computing sciences or closely related discipline;
• Experienced researcher with strong technical capabilities in empirical and/or numerical modelling for environmental applications, geospatial analysis (GIS) and visualisation;
• Collaborative scientist with proven publication record, preferably two or more first-authored papers in strong peer-reviewed journals;
• Excellent communication skills, including being able to effectively interact with people at all social and political levels, and across cultural boundaries;
• An independent thinker who is self-motivated and able to work to pressure and meet deadlines with minimum supervision.

For further information about this position please contact the Centre Director Professor John Rowan at j.s.rowan@dundee.ac.uk 

To find out more about the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science please visit https://www.dundee.ac.uk/water

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3. Postdoctoral Research Assistant

University of Dundee - Biological Sciences

Location:	Dundee
Salary:	£34,308 to £42,155
Hours:	Full Time
Contract Type:	Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On:	16th January 2023
Closes:	23rd January 2023
Job Ref:	374

An opportunity is available for an enthusiastic Postdoctoral Fellow to join the lab of Marcus Lee, newly relocating in January 2023 to the Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery in the School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee.

A major focus of the Lee lab is to understand how the Plasmodium parasite becomes resistant to antimalarial drugs, the compromises it makes in doing so, and the impact of genetic background on this process. We have developed a range of CRISPR and molecular genetics approaches to validate new drug targets and the mechanism of action of novel antimalarial compounds. Our lab is also part of the collaborative multi-lab Malaria Drug Accelerator consortium (https://www.malariada.org), funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Candidates will have the opportunity to influence their own directions while building on the tools and project areas we have developed. Areas of interest include dissecting genetic determinants of resistance and fitness, epigenetic regulation as an antimalarial target, and the cell biology of host-parasite interactions. The candidate will be part of a vibrant community of parasitologists within the Wellcome Centre for Anti-lnfectives Research (wcair.dundee.ac.uk) with additional potential collaborations with the Drug Discovery Unit (drugdiscovery.dundee.ac.uk).

The ideal candidate will have experience in parasite or mammalian cell culture, genetic modification, and molecular biology, and will enjoying working in a collaborative research environment. The position is fixed term until end of 2024 in the first instance.

Summary of Skills and Experience:

• A PhD in microbiology, parasitology, genetics, genomics, or an equivalent area (El.
• Experience and excellent practical skills in eukaryotic cell culture techniques (E).
• Experience in molecular biology (El.
• Experience working in a team (El.
• Research experience in malaria biology or a related relevant area (D).
• Experience with growing and transfecting Plasmodium falciparum parasites (D).
• Experience in CRISPR/Casg methods (D).
• Experience with project management (D).
• Excellent organization and record keeping skills (E).
• Ability to work independently (E).
• Good communication skills (E).
• Experience and understanding of biological safety regulations and procedures (El, particularly in handling human pathogens (D).

Appointment as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant on the Grade 7 salary scale is dependent upon you having been awarded a PhD. An appointment may be considered if you are shortly expected to be awarded a PhD. In this case the initial appointment would be made as a Research Assistant on the Training Grade 7 salary scale (Spinal Point 25 - 28).

Additional Information

The diversity of our staff and students helps to make the University of Dundee a UK university of choice for undergraduate, postgraduate and distance learning. Family friendly policies, staff networks for BME, Disabled and LGBT staff, membership of Athena SWAN, the ECU Race Equality Charter and Stonewall as well a full range of disability services, create an enjoyable and inclusive place to work.

Commitment to DORA

The School of Life Sciences has been fully committed to the principals of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) since 2013. In assessing applicants, we consider the scientific quality of their published research papers, but do not take into account where the papers were published and do not consider journal-based metrics, such as Journal Impact Factors

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