丹麦哥本哈根大学招聘蛋白质偶联受体结晶学博士后

PhD fellowship in crystallography of G protein-coupled receptors

The Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen is pleased to announce that a PhD fellowship will be available from 1 October 2015 or soon thereafter in discussion with strongest applicant. The application deadline is 30 June 2015.

Applications are invited for the three-year fellowship from applicants who hold or expect to hold a master´s degree in a relevant field. If the PhD project is successful, the employment can also be further extended with a two-year postdoc (already funded).

Project description
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) form one of the largest human protein families and mediate the effect of 27% of current drugs. GPCR crystal structures are very valuable for understanding basic receptor structure and function, and as basis for rational drug design. Although still very challenging, technological breakthroughs have led to the determination of more than 110 GPCR crystal structures of 27 unique receptors. This project will reproduce an already crystallized receptor, the metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (mGlu1), transmembrane domain in complex with other ligands of interest to medicinal chemists at the Department. In parallel crystallization trials will be conducted for a new GPCR target.

The first half of the PhD studies will be in the labs of Raymond Stevens and Vadim Cherezov, that have produced the only published mGlu1 structure and the largest number of structures of any group worldwide, and located at the iHuman Institute in Shanghai, China. The second half of the PhD will be supervised by Professor Jette Sandholm Kastrup, who has an outstanding track record in structural biology studies of the ionotropic glutamate receptors, and Section Head Michael Gajhede, at the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. The project is part of a larger project on orphan GPCRs led by David Gloriam.

The PhD fellowship is financed by The Lundbeck Foundation and The Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology.

Required qualifications
The applicant must have:
• obtained a Master´s degree in a relevant subject area prior to the starting date
• fluency in English and excellent communication skills.

Preferred qualifications
We are looking for a highly motivated candidate with a background in structural biology or biochemistry with a solid experience of protein expression and purification.

Supervisors
Professor Jette Sandholm Kastrup (main supervisor, email: jsk@sund.ku.dk, direct phone: +45 35 33 64 86, Michael Gajhede (co-supervisor, email: mig@sund.ku.dk; direct phone: +45 35 33 64 07) and David E. Gloriam (project leader and co-supervisor, email: david.gloriam@sund.ku.dk; direct phone: +45 35 33 61 62).
Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.