Research Associate in Structural Determination of TDP-43 Protein Self-Assemblies

Job description
Job summary

Applications are invited for a Research Associate in Structural Determination of “TDP-43 Protein Self-assemblies” to join the Aprile group at the Department of Chemistry of Imperial College London.

The TAR DNA binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is a key player in the onset and development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Self-assemblies of this protein are found in patients in the form of insoluble aggregates and liquid droplets. Nevertheless, the structure and toxicity of these protein structures are still largely unknown. As part of our team, you will oversee the development of a structural biology pipeline to characterise TDP-43 self-assemblies.

Duties and responsibilities

You will be responsible of expressing and producing different pathologically relevant fragments of TDP-43. You will devise experimental conditions to generate self-assemblies of these protein variants and strategies to characterise their structure and toxicity. This role will involve working as part of a collaboration with ESRF and will therefore include periods working in Grenoble, France. As such, this role will require you to hold the right to work both in France and in the UK.

Essential requirements

• Hold a PhD (or equivalent) in Chemistry or a related discipline
• Ability to travel to and work in France
• Strong background in physical chemistry applied to protein structural studies
• Background in recombinant protein production
• Willingness to travel overseas
• A highly motivated individual with excellent communication skills, able to work effectively as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

Further information

This is a full time, fixed term position for one year in the first instance, with the possibility of extension. You will be based at South Kensington Campus. The successful candidate would be expected to start in early November 2022.

Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as a Research Assistant within the salary range £38,194 – £41,388 per annum.

Should you require any further details on the role please contact: Francesco A. Aprile f.aprile@imperial.ac.uk

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA),which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level. http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research / 

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