We currently seek applicants for

a Senior Specialist – Research Engineer (post-doc) in the Synaptogenesis Research Group

Location: Wrocław, Poland

nr ref. PhD/TP/2024/07_015

Synaptogenesis group is a laboratory conducting multidisciplinary research on skeletal muscles, neuromuscular junctions, and the brain. Our laboratory is multicultural with half of the lab members coming from abroad. We are committed to conduct innovative research on the best international level. Our resent publication Rojek K. et al., „Amot and Yap1 regulate neuronal dendritic tree complexity and locomotor coordination in mice” published in Plos Biology 2019 May 1;17(5):e3000253 has been awarded with prestigious Konorski Award for the best publication in neuroscience in Poland published in 2019.

Currently, we are recruiting a post-doc to study the molecular mechanisms that regulate the stability of dystroglycan, a scaffold transmembrane protein that is integral for the assembly of the dystrophin-associated complex. This protein complex provides a scaffold for the assembly of signaling molecules and plays a key role in the regulation of muscle integrity by linking the extracellular matrix with the actin cytoskeleton. At the neuromuscular synapses, the dystroglycan complex stabilizes postsynaptic components allowing for the assembly and developmental remodeling of synapses. Mutations in most of the components of the complex lead to severe muscular disorders like Duchenne muscular dystrophies or dystroglycanopathies characterized by insufficient amounts of the dystroglycan. Our studies aim to unravel the mechanisms that regulate dystroglycan stability and degradation. Obtain knowledge will constitute an important scientific contribution and could provide a platform for the development of new therapeutic modalities.  Our laboratory is using a variety of methods including confocal microscopy, cell culture, complex biochemistry, and the use of genetically modified mice as a model system. By joining the project, you will learn a lot of techniques from various fields of biology and the obtained results will likely be published in good international journals.

Major responsibilities:

• Planning, designing and conducting scientific experiments.
• Writing manuscripts, presenting results at international scientific meetings.
• Active participation in the laboratory operations.
• Supervising Ph.D. students and technicians

Expectations:

• Ph.D. degree (or equivalents).
• Scientific productivity proven in publication record.
• Experience in laboratory work in the field of biology especially in cell biology, biochemistry, or neuroscience.
• Leadership and excellent organizational skills.
• Ability to work in a team.
• Very good English (both written and spoken).
• Experience in neuroscience, muscle research, and in mouse studies will be additional benefit.
• Experience in working on neuromuscular junctions or knowledge of any of the following techniques will be considered as added value: immunostaining of cells and tissues, confocal microscopy, Western-blot, co-immunoprecipitation, protein purification, molecular cloning, PCR and qRT-PCR, viral-based gene delivery, cell culture, performing experiments on mice, breading of transgenic and knockout animals.

Our offer:

• Full time or part time contract of employment.
• Competitive salaries.
• Work in young, dynamic and ambitious group.
• Cutting edge research with a good publishing record of the group.
• Training in the use of modern techniques including work with conditional knockout mice for tissue-specific deletion, complex biochemistry and protein complex purification, in vivo imaging of synapses.
• We subsidies private medical care.

Please send your resume via e-mail:

hr@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl

Application deadline: July 28th , 2024

Please include the following statement in your application:

“I hereby give my permission for the processing of my personal data included in the submitted documents for the purposes of recruitment process for the Łukasiewicz Research Network – PORT Polish Center for Technology Development, ul. Stabłowicka 147, 54-066 Wrocław carried out presently or in the future by the company PORT, according to personal data protection law (GDPR). This permission for the processing of my personal data includes also the processing of these data in the future, provided that the purpose of the processing remains the same. I hereby acknowledge that the disclosure of my personal data is voluntary, and that I have been informed of the right to access my personal data, and to correct such data.”